Hinata's Story
by KlosetAuthor
Summary: I was tired of Stories where Naruto goes from not noticing Hinata to cleaning her tonsils in 20 minutes or two paragraphs. So instead of complaining I decided to see if I could do better.
1. Full strength

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Hinata does! Hinata, Naruto and all other characters likenesses are the Intellectual Property of Masashi Kishimoto, Shonen Jump and several other Japanese and international companies responsible for the production and distribution of the Naruto Manga and Anime. Kudos to all the parties involved except the company that owns the rights to distribute the Naruto Anime in the US, because they haven't released it yet. This story was written and distributed without written consent and is not intended for commercial gain.

* * *

This was one silver haired ninja who had run into the wrong group of female Ninja. They weren't his targets at all. They were a particularly unlikely group to be together this far away from the village. Obviously they were returning to their home of Konoha. But why were they out here in the first place? 

Farthest from him was Kurenai, a tall dark haired woman who notably possessed red eyes. His information on her though sparse suggested that she favored illusionary techniques, though the fact that her clothing was adorned by wide strips of cloth wrapped around her decorated with a thorn pattern suggested that her clothing might be as functional as it was decorative. Her face went from congenial to almost passive when she saw him; her eyes only narrowing slightly

Next was a young fifteen year old girl. The sweater she wore concealed her maturing frame. Her jet black hair, pail complexion and nearly white irises revealed her as a member of the Hyuuga clan. Hinata Hyuuga, according to his carefully gathered data was of little threat and no consequence. Though she was the clan heir she was generally considered a disappointment and treated accordingly. Consequently she lacked confidence in herself as evidenced by the pained look of shock and fear that began to spread across her face as she noticed him.

Just in front of her a tall blond woman began to narrow her eyes. She was a medical specialist who knew some interesting enhancement techniques if the size of her bust and the fact that she appeared to be 20 something despite the fact that she was in her late 50's was any indicator. He knew from firsthand experience that she could overpower a grizzly bear as easily as a kitten. She was the most dangerous.

Finally in front with her head turned was the pink haired Sakura. His experience from the chuunin exams two and a half years ago indicated that she was a ninja thoroughly grounded in the basics without significant strength or skill. The looks on her companion's faces caused her to jerk her head back and send her hand to the shuriken pack on her leg. Her reaction time was good, but she still posed no threat.

The Sound Ninja Kabuto had been spotted by the wrong party. Now he had to determine how to best complete his mission. His heart beat sped up in anticipation of the fight that might be about to commence. Two insignificants, one of moderate threat and one of significant threat faced him. Could he defeat them if it came down to it?

He could not let this party find the Village of Hidden Sound. The Hokage could hardly afford to chase him deep into enemy territory, she was too important. Neither would it be prudent for her to attempt to return home unescorted. She could send the Jounin, Kurenai to track him but that would weaken her already weak escort critically. So if he could escape without confrontation he could double back and pick up his intended quarry. Could he do it?

**"Oi! I promised to _kill_ you, didn't I?"**

Chapter 1: Full Strength

Tsunade hated diplomatic missions. When she got back home she would have a mountain of paperwork to do and reports to read. Sure she got to relax in luxury at the village's expense, but she wasn't allowed to gamble! No gambling and piled up paperwork, that's what these missions meant to her.

The mission was over now and in the end she wasn't even needed! She just sat there in her official capacity while various daimyos settled everything. Official capacity as a seat warmer she mussed. It had been a complete waste of her time, and now she would have more paperwork! She hated paperwork!

They were halfway home traveling the on footpaths through the forest. The plan had been for her escort to be all female so as not appear important or suspicious. While on the main roads they had all dressed the part of lower-class women on a trip. They dressed normally now that they were on the less traveled footpaths through the forest.

Tsunade had left Shizune in Konoha. As two of the best Medical Ninja she felt it best she leave at least one in Konoha at all times. She had brought her apprentice Haruno Sakura who was walking in front of her. The young woman behind her was Hyuuga Hinata. She had grown as much as Sakura had. When Tsunade had first met Hinata her looks had just screamed "squeeze me I'm cute." Since that time Hinata had gotten taller and her cuteness had melted into a soft, elegant beauty.

Hinata had been without a team since her two teammates Kiba and Shino had both become Chuunin last year. Tsunade hadn't been able to find a team for her so she had been assigned to various teams and missions since then. Tsunade had brought Hinata as well as her former Jounin team leader Kurenai to round out her escort.

She really needed to do something about Hinata. She felt bad about her failure to get her assigned to a new genin team, but truth be told Hinata was well qualified to be a chuunin herself if she just had a little more confidence. Her combat skills had grown over the last two and a half years to bring her well above genin combat level. She had a tendency to unbalance teams. Most genin deferred to ninjas more powerful than themselves. They just didn't know how to react to a ninja twice as powerful as themselves that always acted so submissive. It had a tendency to ruin the team's whole dynamic. Tsunade had been forced to juggle her around teams. Consequently Hinata had managed to save three different teams during failed missions. Hinata never seemed to get past the dejection of another failed mission to realize she had single-handedly saved her teammates lives.

Tsunade looked back at the shy genin behind her. She was walking with her head down exuding a lack of confidence. Even her cloths she chose to wear broadcasted it. The girl always wore a baggy sweater over her shirt to hide her figure. The poor girl wasn't very well endowed and it seemed that she was self conscious about that as well. She should probably slap the puberty fairy. Tsunade toyed with the idea of showing her a jutsu that would enhance the size of some of her particular assets, but there was a risk that if they grew in later that she would be noticeably artificially big. Well if Hinata didn't feel comfortable accepting a commendations for saving the lives of her teammates, because their mission had failed she probably wouldn't take unnatural enhancement well either.

She glanced back at Kurenai before looking forward. Tsunade had discussed Hinata's lack of confidence with her in hopes that as Hinata's former instructor she would know how to help. They had never come up with anything, though Tsunade knew she was holding something back. When she had asked what she wasn't telling her Kurenai simply said that it was currently impossible to use and they would have to find something else.

Surely the girl didn't feel weak. There were currently only two or three genin that Tsunade could think of that _might_ be on her level. How had Seriu described her? He said she was like a force of nature; she just kept getting back up. Konohamaru had said she was like a monster. Tsunade was sure that he meant that as a complement, but she would have to talk to him about you do and do not speak about someone who had saved your life.

Maybe she could use Hinata's grasp of politics to help her. It had after all been Hinata's idea whispered into her ear and then quickly relayed to the daimyo that had saved the talks. Shinobi were seldom used for diplomacy, but perhaps she could find a way.

She was idly wondering if she could make helping with her paperwork sound like a reward when she suddenly realized that they weren't alone. Someone was up ahead of them. She narrowed her eyes as she saw him.

**"Oi! I promised to kill you, didn't I?"**

They had just entered a small clearing when she had spotted him and those words had come out of her mouth completely unbidden.

Tsunade's words caused Sakura, who had just finished turning around, to jerk causing her hand to miss the kunai in her holster. Sakura had never heard her sensei speak in such a scary voice. Her voice was almost dripping with hate. Sakura was taken aback, this person was a sound ninja, but what could he have done to upset Tsunade so badly?

Sakura apparently wasn't the only one who was surprised. Hinata spoke up hesitantly. "Ano, what did he do?" the shy girl asked.

"Surely you can't still be mad about that." The silver haired traitor yelled. "You can't expect us to go through all the effort to bring two people back if you don't fulfill your half of the bargain," continued the sound ninja as if lecturing.

Tsunade's response came in almost a whisper. "You almost killed him," she growled with her head hung down. Her voice while barely audible seemed to be dripping with even more venom then before. Her companions were anxious and confused.

Kabuto desperately wanted to keep her talking and off balance while he figured out a way to escape while still being close enough to pick up his intended targets, then he heard her response.

"What?" he asked incredulously. "You know that that demon must be destroyed before it falls into the wrong hands or decides to go on a rampage on its own!" Kabuto yelled back instantly as if it were the obvious thing.

"That _boy_ is **not** a demon," Tsunade replied; her voice growing louder and bolder by the moment. "He is a brave shinobi of the Leaf!" Her head jerked up as she yelled the last few words out.

"Sensei," Sakura interrupted cautiously. "Who are you talking about?"

Kabuto's Voice rang out in response, "I can't understand why you let that thing live. Not only that but you keep such a dangerous secret from your own children." Turning to face Sakura Kabuto's face took on a conspiratorial looking grin. "You see little girl…"

"You will not tell her!" Tsunade's voice rang out interrupting him.

"Tell her that her friend Naruto is a demon," Kabuto taunted. "Or that the Fourth was such a weakling that he couldn't defeat the Kyuubi and had to seal him away inside a baby boy," Kabuto continued. Tsunade seemed to become even more agitated at these words. 'Perfect' Kabuto thought, if he could push her more he could be able to escape cleanly. "Or am I not supposed to tell her that every time she's been around him she has been in constant danger of being killed by that demon inside him?"

Sakura was dumbstruck. Hinata looked shattered and it was all that Kurenai could do not to rush over and embrace the poor girl. "Poor Naruto," the little girl mumbled almost inaudibly before her voice was drowned out by the Hokage's reply

"The Fourth's seal isn't so weak. That monster was permanently imprisoned inside of him. There is no way he can ever be released, and there is NO danger that he will take over Naruto!" the Tsunade's voice screamed out in reply.

'That silly girl actually looks relieved' Kabuto thought looking at Sakura. Noticing Tsunade's eyes had all but glazed over Kabuto determined that this would be his best chance to escape without conflict. "Believe what you like, but don't worry. If you are too weak to do what's needed, we'll take care of it," Kabuto said while turning.

**"YOU WILL NOT LEAVE!" **

The deep woman's voice was powerful and commanding. It sounded more like it had come out of the throat of a beast than a woman. It froze the fleeing ninja in his tracks. Tsunade was shocked that she'd yelled out without realizing it.

**"I WILL NOT LET YOU HURT MY NARUTO-KUN!"**

Tsunade was speechless. Those were the exact words in her heart, but she was sure she hadn't spoken them yet. It wasn't until she saw Hinata chasing a kunai flying toward the grey haired sound ninja that she realized that she hadn't spoken either of the last two statements! Sakura and Kurenai were both yelling for her to stop, but before Tsunade could react Kabuto had charged forward and she knew that she would be too late.

Kabuto had just begun the seals of the teleportation Jutsu he would need to escape when he noticed the kunai racing toward him. He instinctively jumped to the side to miss it when he suddenly realized he had been given the perfect opportunity. Landing on one foot he launched himself back at Hinata who was in fast pursuit of the kunai she had thrown at him.

Kabuto knew that all he had to do was debilitate this girl and the other three would likely be so busy trying to save her that they wouldn't be able to chase him until he was already gone. He formed his chakra scalpel in his right hand. All he had to do was throw a knife handed strike at her throat across her body so she would dodge to the inside. The scalpel would slice open her jugular vein and he would be able to escape while everyone was busy trying to save her.

He executed the strike perfectly, but instead of simply side stepping the attack Hinata sung her arm in a wide arc to parry his arm too far away for the scalpel to hit and began to counter with a palm strike to the stomach.

Knowing that he had to finish this fight fast he jumped flipping over her arm. All he had to do was land behind her and make a quick stab for her lungs. As long as he didn't kill her instantly they would have their hands full and he could get away. Twisting in mid air so he would land facing her he lunged forward, however Hinata had stepped through with her strike and was able to continue the motion spinning around and intercepting his strike with a crescent kick that sent a jolt of pain through his wrist. She followed through with the same palm strike as before.

He was had just been able to barely twist away from the strike when pain hit him in the stomach. Without thinking he jumped back into the sound of the other ninjas beginning to charge him. Without even looking first he jumped into the air flipping and twisting so that at the top of his arc, above were Hinata stood he was upside down in the air facing the oncoming women. He breathed in and blew out a large could of poison gas.

Sakura, who was the farthest behind in the mad rush to join the fight stopped, skidding with her heals and brought her forearm up over her mouth before she replaced it with a handkerchief. Tsunade jumped high and back landing behind Sakura also covering her mouth with her arm after taking a deep breath while in the air. Kurenai, who had been first to charge after Hinata, knew she was in trouble. She had instinctively taken a deep breath and held it when she saw what was happening, but she had been slightly two slow and had inhaled a small amount of poison as she was jumping back. She jumped back again and forcibly exhaled. She landed on her back her lungs already on fire.

Tsunade's head jerked back and forth as she decided what to do. She dove at Kurenai as she yelled, "Sakura, you have to help Hinata!"

"No," Hinata's quiet voice came floating through the still standing poison mist. "I said I would stop him," her steadily getting louder as she continued to speak. "And I will not take back my words; that is my ninja way!" she declared. Sakura only stopped for a moment and then began to try and find a way around the mist.

* * *

Seeing Kabuto performing some sort of jutsu in the air Hinata twisted and charged for where she estimated he would land. Landing with his back to her and immediately twisting his body the sound ninja barely avoided her palm strike as he jumped back still feeling a sharp pain in his kidney. Doing so, he managed to clip her in the head with a stiff crescent kick as he spun a round. She went down, but not before being able to land a chakra powered palm strike to the inside of one of his knees. 

On the ground he placed both hands on the affected knee using a medical jutsu to suppress the pain. Jumping back up and using chakra from his left hand he began healing the damage to his wrist that had been caused by her first kick at the beginning of the confrontation. Exasperated he wondered if she had eyes in the back of her head. It was then that he heard Tsunade's order.

"No," Hinata's quiet voice climbed up from her position on the ground. "I said I would stop him," her steadily getting louder as she climbed to her feet. "And I will not take back my words; that is my ninja way!" she declared as she reached her feet

That was when he saw them; her eyes. His mind immediately filtered out how fierce and determined they looked, along with the grim look on her face; immediately showing him what he needed to see: byakugan. The Hyuuga family blood limit. That was how she had been able to react to him while he was behind her and how she was able to avoid the chakra scalpels. Suddenly the sharp pains he'd felt on those near misses made sense. Her family's fighting style was said to attack internal organs.

Kabuto realized that because he had known she wasn't a threat he hadn't taken into account her specific fighting techniques. He was actually pretty lucky he had landed that kick to her head, or he would have taken a bit more damage before he could have gotten a debilitating strike.

Reassessing the situation he realized that Tsunade presumably had begun to treat the Jounin who had inhaled the poison if she had sent Sakura to help Hinata. He could escape now, but if he didn't he would have to revert to his plan of giving this girl a debilitating injury.

Slowly he began to heal the damage to his stomach and kidney. That was the instant she charged palms out again. She planted her foot down with her body turned sideways from his extending both palms out from her body her legs spread wide and squatting in classic horse stance shoving one palm toward him. As he stepped to her inside attempting to kick her in the face she allowed herself to continue her motion down and around, ducking underneath his blow in a low spinning sweep. Jumping to avoid the sweep Kabuto brought his arms above his head and attempted to smash both of them down on the previously timid girl's head. Hinata put her whole body into the palm strike she sent to intercept the blow by extending her arm above her as she stood straight up. Seeing this at the last moment Kabuto opened his hands and pushed chakra out his palms in an attempt to ward off her chakra enhanced counter attack. As their hands collided he bent his elbows and extended again launching himself back away from her.

His body had begun to ache in numerous places from the near misses of the Hyuuga girl's 'gentle fist.' 'Gentle my butt,' he thought. That had to be one of the most misleading names he'd ever heard now that he'd fought against it. It was still insignificant he thought as he reached into the pouch he kept behind him for a pain suppressant. He would have to go without he realized, because she charged him the second he began to reach behind him.

Predictably she attacked him with another palm strike. He knew near misses would eventually take their toll on him. To avoid this he reached across his body and grabbed her wrist, twisting and kneeling in front of her with his back facing her. Her left palm moved toward his back, but it was too slow to prevent the tug he gave her arm from sending her over his back and onto her own in front of him. It did however manage to graze his back causing small, painful spasms.

Angry he thought that she must send a continual amount of chakra out her palms. He was wrong; Hinata didn't waste chakra like that. She only used chakra on blows that she intended to connect and if it was deflected too wide she would let it go to conserver energy.

Hinata rolled with the throw from her forward shoulder across her back to the opposite hip allowing her to turn and face her opponent again with just a quick swivel of her hips. She charged back in instantly this time hoping to catch him off guard. He deflected her arm wide again, but this time she managed to reverse the grip and turned stepping back under his armpit sending him onto his back. She had to jump to avoid his hands. She couldn't tell what he was doing with the chakra in his hands, but she knew she didn't want him to touch her ankles with it.

* * *

On the other side of the mist Sakura had finally gotten to the edge of it and was running around it to get back to Hinata. She berated herself again for not only running the direction the wind had blown the mist, but also along the side that it appears that sound S.O.B. had blown out more mist. She should have paid better attention. It's the first few moments of a battle that are the most critical she reminded herself hoping she would be able to get to Hinata in time. 

Tsunade had just finished with Kurenai's lungs. She wasn't in danger of dying anymore, but she needed rest. But rest was something that Kurenai was unwilling to do while her student was battling to the death with an enemy ninja. Judging that the mist would likely clear before she could get around it Tsunade turned to yell at the stubborn Jounin.

"When the mist clears I'll go save her, but you have to rest!"

"Hokage-sama, I can't…"

"You can and you will! If you don't rest here I'll knock you out myself!"

Tsunade looked back through the fading mist. It would be safe for her to run through if she held her breath in just a few moments. Sakura was nowhere to be seen. She hoped that the girl was ok. Currently Hinata and that infernal sound ninja were squared off looking at each other. Kabuto was breathing heavily but Hinata was bent over panting, almost gasping for air. From what she had been able to tell through the mist Hinata had barely been able to keep up and that murdering Kabuto had been slowly picking her apart.

* * *

Kabuto was becoming upset. He was trying to defeat that girl while expending as little chakra as possible. But every time he sped up she matched him. He had barely been able to stay on top of in this fight and was wasting far too much chakra. He still had a whole other mission he needed to complete. The girl had coming at him so relentlessly he hadn't been able to escape. Now that the mist was thinning he would have to revert to his original plan of giving the girl a debilitating injury. It shouldn't bee too hard, he had been wearing her down throughout the whole fight. He hadn't been able to give her any serious internal injuries, she always seemed to squirm out of the way when he was using his chakra scalpel, so he hadn't been able to do more than cause minor hemorrhaging and rips in her muscles, but the girls hits and near misses had begun to give him aches all over his body. It was over now though; a couple of exchanges ago he had managed to puncture one of her lungs. The girl had impressively still been able to fight, but she'd been slowing down. He'd put an end to it now. 

Hinata had managed to get several solid hits in, especially when she had started leading with her left hand. She had caught him flatfooted the first time she had done it. She did it again on the next exchange and he hadn't been able to block it completely. On the third exchange he had managed to block the left hand completely, but missed the left foot that clipped him in the head. The sound ninja had excellent recovery techniques but she could tell that the damage to his chakra circulatory system had begun to take its toll. His recovery time was dropping steadily.

Hinata didn't know what he had been doing with the chakra in his hands, but she'd been extra careful to avoid it when possible. It would be impossible for someone without the Byakugan to attack the chakra circulatory system, at least not without extensive training from someone who did. That attack a little while ago had some how affected her insides; she couldn't breath. He had to be attacking her internal organs. Human anatomy is fairly well known so it's quite possible for anyone to create techniques that could damage internal organs.

Hinata was no medical specialist, but the Hyuuga had techniques that allowed one to affect the chakra circulatory system to improve healing. She started sending chakra to the areas around and trough her lungs in a way that she could only describe as massaging.

She needed a few moments for her lungs to begin to recuperate, so she decided to let him make the first move. She wouldn't let him get away to hurt Naruto-kun though. Desperately she wracked her mind for a plan. With his recovery speed on the decline she could probably beat him if she did things the painful way, but that was a last resort and didn't constitute an effective plan.

Kabuto calculated that the damage too her lungs should have become debilitating enough by now and charged her. The mist was clearing and it was now or never. Another small puncture in the lungs should be easily accomplished now and would fit his needs perfectly. He'd have to rest a bit before engaging his target, but as long as he didn't kill the girl instantly he should get away fine.

Hinata took up the charge instantly, but he was too fast. She knew she wouldn't be able to avoid the chakra in his hands this time as it sped to the other side of her chest. She leaned back attempting to duck the blow and roll backward. She wouldn't have made it if a kunai hadn't thunked into ground between them causing him to jerk his hand back.

**"STAY AWAY FROM MY FRIENDS UNLESS YOU WANT TO GET HURT!" **

**

* * *

**

Tsunade charged through the mist holding her breath with her arms over her eyes and mouth. She had seen Hinata and Kabuto charging each other and knew Hinata wasn't going to be able to beat him. She also knew she wouldn't get there in time, but she had to try. She heard a loud 'thunk' as she was running followed by the sound of a body rolling, but couldn't uncover her eyes for another couple of steps. Had Sakura made it in time? It was while she was uncovering her mouth and eyes that she heard the loud voice.

**"STAY AWAY FROM MY FRIENDS UNLESS YOU WANT TO GET HURT!"**

Tsunade opened her eyes and looked to her right in time to see Hinata rolling back and then come to a stop, both feet and one hand skidding on the ground. In front of her Kabuto had jumped back from the kunai that was embedded deep in the ground. That hadn't been Sakura yelling, that voice defiantly belonged to a man. Tsunade stepped to her right so she could keep her eyes on Kabuto and see who this new stranger was. That was when she first saw him again after two and a half years.

Naruto was standing in the branch of a tree glaring at Kabuto. 'He's gotten taller' was Tsunade's first thought. Not finished growing yet; he was head and shoulders shorter than Jiraiya. He wore an orange jacket that was just like he used to wear, but it was a little too small for him. It hung high enough to show a black cloth belt wrapped around his waist several times and didn't make it all the way down his arms. Instead of Orange Cargo Pants he wore Navy Blue pants that were tied with black strips around his lower legs matching the hand wrappings that he wore around his hands and forearms. His face bore the most interesting changes though. It still bore the whisker marks on his cheeks, but his face had lost its chubbiness. He'd kept his hair short, but he was beginning to resemble the fourth more and more.

"Hey Naruto! No friendly banter, no talk about old times; just a death threat? I though after all we had been through I'd get more than that." Kabuto's words snapped Tsunade out of her reverie.

Kabuto had finally found his quarry, but there should be one more. It would be difficult to deal with Naruto with just Jiraiya around. Having Tsunade and her two remaining nuisances would be difficult. He wanted to keep Naruto talking, something usually pretty easy to do, while he thought up a plan.

"First you attacked Tsunade-ba-chan. I told you I would never forgive you for what you had done. Did you think that attacking more of my friends would make me change my mind?" Naruto yelled the last bit out as he shook a fist. Unfortunately his sudden rush of emotion caused him to fall off his branch. He landed in an ungainly squat with one hand on the ground.

Sakura arrived just in time to see Naruto fall and seeing the current stand off she leaned over hands on knees to rest next to Hinata's crouched form. Tsunade sighed, mumbling "baka," under her breath. Sakura struggled valiantly, if unsuccessfully to keep from giggling. Hinata couldn't help but grin as she stood up. "Thank you," she muttered softly.

Kabuto had used the pause in conversation to grab the food pill from the pouch he wore on his back. He knew he'd need it if he was going to fight Naruto. He almost dropped it when he saw Naruto fall. Sighing loudly he put the pill in his mouth and began to chew. Knowing that his mission stood a better chance of success if he could get Naruto to chase him away from everyone else, preferably away from his instructor who had just walked out of the tree line behind him to yell at his student, Kabuto searched the recesses of his mind for a way to do so. A grin lit up his face as he performed the medical jutsu he'd created that would allow him to turn the food pill he'd just eaten into energy he could use instantly to enhance his speed and strength. He had come up with a way to get Naruto to chase him. It was perfect; all he needed was to get that Hyuuga girl to attack him again.

Turning to Hinata who had stood up, but still seemed to be breathing heavily he began to implement his plan. "It's a good thing the idiot here showed up, you were about to die a disgrace, proving your own uselessness," Kabuto taunted her in a snide voice. "I can't decide if it's ironic or just plain sad that the Hyuuga heiress would be the weakest member of the clan," he continued. "As if you could actually stop me from doing anything I wanted, I am insulted!" Kabuto yelled, his tirade continuing. "So tell me are you willing to die for your ninja way?" the sound ninja asked with a snide grin.

"It takes more strength to live something than it takes to die for something," Hinata's reply came out between gasps for breath.

Before Hinata could continue Naruto yelled out. "Hey your fight with her is over; I'm your opponent now."

"No!" came Hinata's somewhat weak yell interrupting what was likely to become a long speech. "I said I would stop him, and he won't lay a finger on you!" Hinata's said as forcefully as she could.

"But Hinata, you aren't in any shape to fight, let me fight him for you," Naruto replied worriedly.

"I will not take back my words!" Hinata said more forcibly, leaving the other half of that statement they both knew unsaid. Naruto's brow furrowed, he didn't know how to deal with this situation if it was a matter of nindo.

"I will not allow you to fight Hinata-chan," Tsunade's voice rang in.

Ignoring her Hinata turned to face Kabuto. "You were right about one thing, it is a good thing that Naruto showed up," she said her words coming more easily now. "When he left I promised my self that I would get stronger too so that when he got back I could show him how strong I had become." Hinata's words seemed to strike a chord in Naruto's heart causing him to turn to face her, whispering her name questioningly. Hinata continued on as if she hadn't noticed. "I also promised that I wouldn't use my full strength until he was there to see it," Hinata stated her voice growing more even and confident. "It was going to be difficult to defeat you without it, but my ninja way is to never to take back my words," Hinata finished her statement at almost a yell her breath now coming evenly and easily.

Sakura was stunned and speechless as the once seemingly incapacitated Hinata walked away from her in perfect fighting condition. Tsunade and Naruto both leaned back in shock at the sight while Jiraiya just stood their appraisingly. All of their attention was suddenly shifted back to Kurenai as she started to grunt as she moved to stop her one time pupil.

Kabuto couldn't believe the idiocy of it all. They were going to let him fight her without protest. Everything would work according to plan now. He had trouble hiding his grin.

Hinata reached down to her waist and pulled the jacket she was wearing over her head and threw it away. All eyes were suddenly drawn to her chest. Hinata hadn't expected to take of her jacket that day and was only wearing a small spandex tube top. 'This girl must have tipped the puberty fairy,' Jiraiya thought as he examined Hinata's no longer weighted down breasts.

Everyone's head jerked in unison toward the sound of a loud crunch when Hinata's jacket hit a small tree and crushed it. That is all but Jiraiya who couldn't take his eyes off Hinata's bosom. Jiraiya almost grabbed his pad to start taking notes before he stopped himself. He would have to burn everything into memory so he could write it down in his notes later.

Hinata found that the only way she could suppress her mortification at being so scantily clad was to keep moving. Everyone's eyes returned to her as she knelt down on one knee and reached under the cloth wraps around her calves and pulled out two more weights. Jiraiya had leaned forward, unable to keep from leering at the poor girl's posterior and legs showing through her tight pants when he suddenly found Naruto's elbow in his stomach. The heavy sounding thump of the weights hitting the grass left everyone, including Kurenai and Kabuto speechless.

Kabuto was still in a state of shock when he found himself nose to nose with the fierce looking Hyuuga girl then found himself cratered in a tree. He barely came to his senses as she came charging him with a look of fierce determination more fitting a monster than her smooth features. Jumping too the side to avoid her palm he heard the tree he had landed against explode into a shower of splinters.

Stunned Kabuto just stood there as the splinters scratched him, his face betraying his shock, until the sharp pain of her not so gentle palm strike filled his side. Kabuto attempted to jump away, but was forced to step back to avoid a branch from the tree that had just exploded. Jumping over the tree as it fell; Hinata sent Kabuto flying again with a kick to the back of the head.

Able to react for the First time Kabuto rolled with the fall coming up facing an again charging Hinata. He threw a kunai straight at her. Suddenly she was in the air coming down toward him. With a smirk he threw two handfuls of shuriken stars at her. He stood there watching as the girl began a spin, but was forced to step back as the swirling sphere of chakra that surrounded her in the air sent the shuriken in several different directions, one of which was straight back at him. Continuing to spin as the cloud dissipated; Hinata swung one of her legs out, chakra being expelled from it like it had been in the kaiten, divination whirl, she had just used. The attack hit him in the side of the jaw, undoubtedly breaking it and sending him flying past Tsunade who had to lean away to keep from getting hit.

The sound ninja flew right over Kurenai's body, but she couldn't take her eyes off of her former student. She hadn't seen her fight so determinedly since that first Chuunin exam. And she'd never seen Hinata with such a fierce face. It almost frightened her to see the most kind and loving girl she had ever met become so fierce, but she knew why. Even the most docile of animals will become vicious for that same reason.

Hinata began to slowly saunter toward the vile sound ninja in the most intimidating way she could manage. Her face showed a grim, fatal determination. Kabuto saw all of this as he pulled himself out of the crater in the tree. Quickly Kabuto began the seals he would need to escape. Seeing her mistake too late Hinata began to run at her enemy as she reached into her leg holster for the last of her shuriken stars. Hurriedly she threw her last three at the departing ninja. Tsunade had to jump out of the way of one of the stars that weren't heading exactly toward the target. The grey haired ninja disappeared in a puff of smoke just before one of the stars embedded itself in the tree just behind where his head had been. The other two struck other trees behind it quickly thereafter.

Other people might have yelled or cursed at this, but Hinata just came to a stop and began to look and feel dejected while everyone else just stared in varied states of shock. Naruto, however almost instantly came to his senses. "Ero-Senin, we have to go after him," Naruto yelled as he began to move toward where the sound ninja had last been standing. As everyone else finally registered what had just happened, Naruto stopped and faced Hinata. "That was incredible Hinata, you've gotten really strong." "You'll have to let me train with you when I get back," his words brought a familiar warmth to her cheeks. Naruto didn't notice because he had turned his head back to his eccentric master. He was breathing in to yell at his sensei, who had yet to move from the spot he was standing. At least he wasn't still leering at Hinata.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata's voice rang out. "Let me go with you," her voice came out in a rush.

'Go for it,' Sakura's inner voice cried out.

Kurenai grinned and chuckled slightly on the ground as she mentally cheered Hinata on. Looking back and forth between Kurenai and Hinata Tsunade realized what she hadn't been told. Realization dawned on her and her face lit up with a grin. Scheming soon followed.

"Err…. You do realize it's a trap don't you?" Naruto asked bashfully. Tsunade and Sakura did a double take and Hinata just let out a slight gasp. Jiraiya put one hand on the back of his neck and let his head droop down, resigning himself to the explosion that was about to take place.

What?" Tsunade yelled. "You were about to intentionally walk into a trap!" Tsunade came stomping up to Naruto. Hinata seemed to cringe for Naruto. Naruto however simply began to laugh nervously as he put one hand behind his head.

"Well that's the thing about traps," he began to relate. "They keep your enemy overconfident because they know that you're walking into their trap. They'll show you things that they shouldn't or stay when they should run away, because you're in their trap and they figure they've got you so it doesn't matter. Then all you've got to do is beat them up."

Tsunade had almost reached Naruto when she turned and bellowed at the man that was supposedly his instructor and guardian. "You were going to let your student knowingly walk into a trap?" she shouted incredulously. Furrowing his brow and leaning back as if searching for the right words, he never got to speak, because he was interrupted by his student.

"It was his idea," Naruto piped in. "We weren't able to find Orochimaru's hideout and the three years until he can take over Sasuke's body is almost up. So we figured if we let Kabuto lure us into a trap at his base we could find out where it is and take Sasuke back." Naruto's words all came out in a rush.

While Sakura was touched Tsunade only got angrier. Bellowing at her fellow Sanin she began her lecture as if she was addressing some very obnoxious students. "You job wasn't to search for Sasuke and Orochimaru. I have other people doing that. When I asked you to take Naruto-kun I asked you to keep him safe from the Akatsuke. Now I want you to tell me what reason you could possibly have to take the person you were protecting into a dangerous situation like that. Why were you not only taking him deep into enemy territory, but knowingly walking into a trap with no chance for support?" Loudly taking in deep breaths she waited for his reply.

Trying to interrupt Naruto began to speak: "Tsunade-ba-chan, we don't have much time, Kabuto will…."

Naruto was stopped by Tsunade's hands squeezing his cheeks as she brought her face within an inch of his. Hinata gasped, leaning back and bringing her arms up in a warding gesture. Tsunade's began to speak quietly and in an artificial voice, much like what one might use to address a baby or small child. "Naruto-kun, I need you to be quiet now so I can hear your sensei explain time me why I shouldn't _kill him_!" The last two words came out in a squeak.

Jiraiya put both of his hands out in front of his chest fingers splayed as if to hold her anger back as Tsunade turned to glare at him. "You see he was so dead set on finding Sasuke that searching for him was the only way I could keep him from running out on his own," he began to explain stuttering. Seeing that his explanation so far didn't appear to be enough he continued. "It's been a great training tool! The boy has learned a great deal about gathering information from people, tracking and spy nets." Still not enough to placate the woman he began to stutter worse. "Showing how something would help find Sasuke and bring him back was the only way I could get him to pay attention to lessons on tactics and learn techniques that he thought were boring." He was laying it on a little thick but he was trying to avoid the nuclear pounding he felt coming on. These kids would tell their grandchildren about how the fifth Hokage had pounded him so badly that he couldn't look at a woman without feeling pain for months. Make-Out Violence number 5 would be delayed for a year!

Tsunade could tell that Jiraiya was just trying to avoid another one of her butt whuppings, but what he said was likely in essence true. He had been tracking Sasuke to keep the reins on Naruto so he could protect him. He likely was also hoping that Naruto could save his friend where Jiraiya had been unable to save his own.

That was all well and good, but he was not taking her little Naruto-kun into this trap. She put her foot down! "Alright, but you are not walking into this trap," she yelled.

"But, Oh-ba-chan…" Naruto began only to be cut off by an irate Tsunade.

"You are ordered by your Hokage to return to Konoha immediately. That is final!"

"But…" Naruto began again.

"I will not have my plans sabotaged by two overeager, hormonally driven, overgrown teenagers!" Tsunade yelled cutting him off again. This time she really did put her foot down, crushing a rock in the process.

Naruto and Jiraiya seemed to be satisfied by this, or at least set back. Naruto knew that Orochimaru wanted him dead bad enough to set this trap again. He'd have another chance to find Sasuke. Jiraiya didn't want his butt handed to him, so he elected to act contrite until it appeared Tsunade had forgiven him.

They were all about to turn and leave when Hinata, her hands held nervously in front of her bowed low. "I'm sorry Naruto-san, I failed again," she said humbly. Clearly taken back Naruto lost his balance for a moment. "Ah, what do you mean Hinata?" the dumbstruck boy asked after he turned to face her.

"I let him get away, after I said I wouldn't let him go. I made a mistake and he got away. I failed to keep my word." The poor girl seemed to be on the verge of tears. Naruto looked confused, but the pain of another affected him the way it always did.

He responded in a loud voice. "You don't need to apologize, you didn't promise not to let him go, you just said you wouldn't let him go and you didn't. He got away because of luck. Besides if you kept him from running it would have ruined the plan," Naruto answered in a rush. "You did great…You kept your word and fought him with everything you had. You'll get him next time for sure….unless of course he runs away as soon as he sees you. Ha. Ha. Ha." He chuckled nervously at the girl who was beginning to look up in front of him. "Yeah, I bet you scared him so bad he wets his pants the next time he sees you," Naruto kept going apparently not seeing the blush on the poor, embarrassed girls face.

Knowing that it would take some effort to stop the boy before he ran out of gas on his own Tsunade left the boy to his barrage of complements while she made sure Kurenai was ready to travel. Naruto hadn't been able to stop by the time she was done, so she had needed to yell at him to get moving or be left behind. Not smart enough to be left behind with the blushing girl, they had both hurried after.

* * *

Naruto had spent the whole trip grilling the two young ladies for information about themselves and their collective friends. Things had gone well and Hinata had reacted positively under the attention. Everything was going wonderful until Naruto had asked Sakura for a date. Tsunade had been about to go back and pound him for ruining her plans, but Sakura had used the strength she had gained training under her to send Naruto into a tree. This had earned Sakura several complements from the boy. Unfortunately one was to compare her to 'Old-Lady-Tsunade', which had earned him another trip crashing into a tree courtesy of 'Old-Lady-Tsunade Aeronautics and Pain ltd.' 

Tsunade spent most of the trip scheming. Now that she knew what Kurenai had been holding back and she had Naruto back she could begin working on Hinata's confidence issues. But was she acting out of her concern for her subordinates as Hokage or was she playing the scheming match maker.

Jiraiya, seeing the crooked grin that adorned her face kept quiet. He was even too scared to get out his note book to take down notes for his book. He would just have to go over the recent events in his head until he burned them into memory for his next book.

* * *

End Chapter 1 

After reading a fair amount of Naruto Fanfiction, I got tired of reading stories where on his own Naruto went from not noticing Hinata to cleaning her tonsils in 20 minutes or 2 paragraphs. Now I can see Hinata suddenly doing this, she's wanted to for most of her life and if she ever managed to gather the courage, I imagine sparks would fly. But even if Naruto finally did notice I suspect it would still take a little bit of time for him to make a move and for things to progress.

Well I decided I didn't have a right to complain if I couldn't do any better, so here's my attempt.


	2. The Bet

_'The Bet'_

Cue: The Entertainer

Cue: Water Color Painting of Tsunade Gambling

Cue: Water Color Painting of Tsunade Chasing Naruto out of a gambling hall

Naruto: Hey! What's with this Music, I'm not Robert Redford and I've never met Paul Newman.

Tsunade: Robert Redford is a hunk!

Hinata: Ano, I've met Paul Newman…

Kurenai & Tsunade: You Have!

KlosetAuthor: This is going downhill fast Cue: Haruka Kanata

Naruto: Hey that's Season Two's opening theme.

KlosetAuthor: Yes, but it was the best one, and it's the first opening that had Hinata in it.

Naruto: Yeah, and she's been in every one of them sense….

KlosetAuthor: Why do you think that is? (Crossing fingers and praying that it means Hinata will be taking on a bigger role.)

Hinata: (Crossing Fingers and hoping that they'll sign her on as Naruto's official love interest and maybe give her a raise).

Naruto: Those marketing Punks are probably just using her for fan service! (Growling, he begins to envision how he's going to brutally help them repent.)

Disclaimer: See chapter 1, and don't get caught using a ninjitsu technique on anyone that charged you to read this story.

Hinata's Story: Underneath Your Clothes

* * *

Chapter 2: The Bet 

It was late afternoon when they finally came to the Gates of the Hidden village of the leaf: Konoha. The trip had been mostly uneventful since the confrontation with Kabuto. At least it was uneventful as one could expect when traveling with Naruto. When they'd broken camp that morning Naruto had attempted to casually walk away with Jiraiya in another direction, under the auspices of continuing his training.

Naruto rubbed his ear; it still hurt when he thought about how Tsunade-ba-chan had grabbed it. He had waved goodbye saying something about the girls being close enough to home not to need them. Then he'd waved Ero-Senin on saying it was time to get back to training. Just as he was turning around after that: that was when she had clamped on to him.

"Where do you think you're going?" Tsunade had asked him. He had tried to play it smooth telling her that he and Jiraiya had to finish the training mission, and he had assumed that she and the girls wouldn't need them anymore. The old lady had just grinned and said that he'd be finishing his training in Konoha. He didn't know what to say at that point, so he'd simply said that they couldn't do that and looked at Jiraiya for support.

* * *

Jiraiya had woken up to a nightmare involving Tsunade's wrath and evil, maniacal chuckle and then, even before breakfast he saw the boy tempting fate, trying to defy that same woman. Consequently when the boy looked at him for support, he left him to deal with the sexy she-devil alone.

* * *

Hinata had been about to cry when she heard Naruto was about to leave them. She hadn't realized how badly that she had missed seeing him. Before he left she had only been able to talk to him a few times, she spent most of their time 'together' watching him from a distance. While he had been gone she had thought about him every day, when she had wanted to give up she would remember that he never gave up and work even harder to be like the one she loved so desperately. 

On missions sometimes she would remember the Chuunin Exam and Naruto cheering for her and no matter how many mistakes she made she just couldn't stay down. Then there was the mission to recover Konohamaru. That boy had used Naruto's Sexy-no-Jutsu and taken both of the men holding him. After that there was no way that Hinata would give up trying to save that boy, no matter how strong the woman chuunin was. And then when that chuunin had beaten them all, she could have sworn she heard Naruto's voice and she just couldn't keep her body down. Hinata couldn't remember exactly how that fight had ended, but Konohamaru had visited her every day at the hospital until she was able to leave.

She didn't think she had missed him so much, because of all the times she had 'seen' him while he was gone, but seeing him about to leave after she had gotten her hopes up for another day with him, had nearly brought her whole world down around her. She had been trying to say something that might convince him to stay when she had seen Tsunade grab him. As upset as she was at seeing Naruto hurt in any way, she couldn't help but be relieved when she realized that he would be staying with them for another day.

Hinata had then buried her irritation at Sakura when she began giggling at Naruto. Apparently she thought it was funny watching someone else get lectured by her sensei. Hinata didn't think it was funny, but when she heard that Naruto would finish his apprenticeship while in Konoha she was ecstatic. It had taken her most of the trip back to remove the widest car-salesman grin from her face, and it still kept coming back unbidden periodically.

Now that they were just outside of the gates of Konoha she didn't know what she would do. She wanted to confess her feelings to him. She wanted to be there for him so he never had to face anything alone again. She wanted to share her feelings and the rest of her life with him. There came that grin again. But she couldn't confess her feelings to him like that with everyone around. She'd have to get him alone, but she didn't know how to do that. And would she even have the strength to talk to him if they were alone? She never had before. And would he just tell her that he just wanted to be friends or worse that he was still in love with Sakura. Her heart would burst if he did. She wanted to run away just thinking about it.

* * *

Jiraiya had been forced to endure the kid's angry glare for some time after they broke camp, but that couldn't faze him through the glee at knowing that Tsunade's ire was no longer directed at him. He had pulled out his notepad and pencil as soon as they had started walking and began to jot down notes from what he had seen the day before. After his quiet giggling had been interrupted by Tsunade's maniacal chuckle for the second time he had begun taking notes on that as well. He had to be sure to capture in words the way her head tilted back, how her hands seemed to gravitate to her hips and how her upper body seemed to pulsate slightly. After the fifth time however he also began to make plans for Naruto's funeral and burial. He had just finished with his notes as they reached Konoha's gates. His timing couldn't have been better. Now the only question was whether or he should make a quick research run before making arrangements for the night or begin seeing to Naruto's final arrangements.

* * *

Seeing that his glares did him no good, Naruto started to think of another way to get back at the perverted Sanin. That was when he first saw it: the predatory grin Hinata had plastered all over face. After seeing what Hinata was capable of in combat during the Chuunin Exam and the day before, Naruto couldn't help but be afraid of that grin. It seemed to reach something primal in the base of his spine sending cold shivers all the way back up to the base of his skull. So unnerved that he was unable to continue plotting or strike up much conversation, he began to practice the very complex start of the latest jutsu the perverted hermit had taught him. He was able to do it successfully about half the time without the seals, but every time he saw that grin he would be stopped dead in his tracks. A couple of times he could have swore he even saw her licking her lips! Naruto had forgotten that sometimes women could be scary. 

They were walking through the gates when he came back to reality. During her lecture that morning Tsunade-ba-chan had promised him some special training while he was back. It had better be good, he though. Maybe it would be that super strength thing she did! She'd also mentioned something even better than training. He couldn't think of what could be better than training. Was there a two for one sale at the Ichiraku Ramen Stand?

Just as they were all passing through the gates Jiraiya and Naruto started turning to go there own separate ways. Tsunade could see that Naruto was about to make a beeline to the Ichiraku Ramen Stand and Jiraiya was about to go wherever he went to go peeping.

"Hold it right there you two." Tsunade's voice was commanding and brooked no disobedience. "Where do you two think you're going?" Tsunade asked.

Cutting them off before they could get more than a couple of words into their explanation Tsunade continued: "I want you both to come with me."

"I want to hear about how your training went, and Jiraiya will need to give me his report," she told them. It would also be a lot better than the paper work she was going to have to do.

Turning to the now some what tired and slightly amused Jounin Tsunade continued: "Kurenai, you will need to come with us to the hospital."

Before Kurenai could object or Hinata could quietly question why Naruto spoke up. "I thought you already fixed her up ba-chan, why does she need to go to the hospital?"

Seeing the confusion on Naruto's face and the unasked question in Hinata's eyes Tsunade answered calmly, "Kurenai needs to have her blood tested to make sure that there are no more toxins in it. That can't be done without some special equipment, so I cannot be sure I got rid of all the poison she inhaled. She'll also be prescribed a detoxifying agent and will have to go on a detoxifying died for about a week."

"Detoxifying Diet?" Naruto asked.

"It just means that she'll be eating mostly vegetables and drinking a lot of water and juice for a week," Sakura answered helpfully.

"Bleah," was Naruto's only response as he thought about only eating vegetables. Kurenai remembered the last time she was poisoned and agreed with him.

* * *

Hinata felt guilty. She had decided to go with them as far as the hospital, but a part of her went so she could be with Naruto and not because of her concern for Kurenai-sensei. The more she thought about it the more embarrassed she felt and the more she moved to the back of the group. 

Even at the back of the group her eyes seemed to gravitate toward the object of her affections. His jacket was a bit too short for him, and didn't quite come down to his waist leaving Hinata with an unobstructed view of the way his pants hung over his butt. When he stepped forward the fabric seemed to be pulled tight giving her a look at his muscular, toned buns. She found the sight somewhat hypnotic. Somehow she found herself wondering what it would be like to feel them. She took a quick step forward to catch up and moved her hand slightly forward from her waist before she realized what she was doing. Suddenly embarrassment flared up in her cheeks and she stopped dead in her tracks. She shook her head violently side to side to clear her mind. That was when she first noticed it.

Hinata thought it was strange that people would react this way to the Hokage. All around her she could see cold stares. Children pointing at the Hokage were quickly grabbed by their guardians and shushed. Suddenly she felt small, like a scared little girl, she felt out of place. She heard their voices. "Leave them alone." "Don't stare at them." "Don't look at them!" Hinata couldn't understand their reaction. "He's back," she heard several say to each other.

Hinata remembered that Naruto always referred to Jiraiya-senen as Ero-senen /Pervert-senen/. Could he really be such a pervert that everyone in Konoha would have this reaction to him? She was asking herself this question when suddenly the answer became painfully clear to her. That was when she first heard one of the villagers utter, "monster."

Even in her earliest memories she remembered that word, and how they had always called him that. "Naruto," she murmured. Now, thanks to Kabuto she understood why they called him that. For the first time she understood how deeply they hated him. She remembered her father telling her stories about the kyuubi, the nine-tailed demon fox that had nearly destroyed Konoha and killed so many people. Everyone had lost someone. She remembered her father's voice as he talked about it. Everyone hated that monster. Tears began to form in her eyes until her motions suddenly changed track as if someone had just flipped a switch.

What's wrong with these people? Naruto wasn't the Kyuubi, Tsunade had said as much. That monster was trapped inside of Naruto where it couldn't get out. By the very act of breathing Naruto was protecting all the people of Konoha from that monster. He was a hero! They all knew and yet they hated him.

'They all knew,' Hinata fumed, and yet they had never told her. Just as Kabuto had said they never told anyone of her generation. Did Naruto even know? How could the people be this stupid? How could they hate him, and how could they not tell us the truth? These questions swirled in Hinata's mind making her angrier and angrier.

Finally she remembered something her father had told her; back when she was training her to be the heir of the clan. "A person is smart, Hinata. People are dumb. They are prejudiced, excitable, easily frightened and even easier to manipulate. That is why we must always control what appearance we present to the masses."

Hinata had never been so outraged in all of her life. She wanted to beat some sense into these people. She wanted to tell them that Naruto was a hero. She would force them to understand.

Just as Hinata was about to make good on her intentions she heard his cheery voice yelling to her. "Oi, Hinata! Are you coming?" Naruto asked while jumping up and down waving at her.

During her reverie Hinata had fallen a ways behind. Naruto it appeared had been the only one to notice. He had stopped as the rest of the group walked past him.

"Coming," she yelled as she jogged back toward him. When she caught up they both jogged back up to the group.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked as they caught up to everyone else.

"Nothing," was her only response. But something was definitely wrong. Everywhere they went the people acted the same. It didn't let up. Naruto was trying to talk to her, but she didn't even register his voice. The cold stares were just too loud for her. Naruto didn't seem to notice or was used to being ignored. He didn't realize how strange it was for Hinata not to silently hang on every one of his words. Kurenai noticed however.

They were approaching the Hospital when Naruto finally realized that his effort to distract Hinata from whatever was bothering her was a failure. Kurenai had been watching the girl become more and more distraught was about to take the girl aside and ask her what was wrong, when she suddenly burst into tears.

Hinata couldn't take it anymore. She stopped dead in her tracks and started to cry. Shocked, everyone else stopped in their tracks. Before anyone could questioned the bawling girl she began to apologize profusely.

"N-Naruto-kun, I'm sorry. I didn't know it was this bad… If I'd have known…I would have… I would have…" Hinata's courage failed her at that moment. What would she have done? Would she have been his friend? Would she have tried to have been more? Would she have told him she loved him? She searched her heart for the answers to these questions as well as something safe she could say while her cheeks attempted to create a new shade of crimson.

Touched by the young woman's concern, Naruto reached out and tentatively placed his hand on her shoulder. Haltingly Naruto began to speak to the now sobbing girl. "It's OK Hinata, as long as you'll…."

"You shouldn't be apologizing to that _thing_ young mistress." The whiney voice of an old man interrupted Naruto.

Naruto's hand slipped off her shoulder as he turned to face the source of the unwanted interruption. Ironically, of the six sets of eyes that turned to face the old man, Naruto's probably bore the least malicious intent. Jiraiya was furious that the _show_ had been interrupted. It could have been good material for the next _Make-Out Paradise_. Tsunade was furious that someone had interfered with her plans, the fact that she hadn't done anything yet not withstanding. The inner Sakura was bellowing about a ruined romantic moment while the outer Sakura just glared. The fact that Kurenai was trying to come up with a hypnotic illusion nasty enough to suit the person that had just ruined Hinata's moment shined through her eyes. It was a look that could stop a man's heart, and leave him dead on the pavement.

The old man however, was unaffected if the smirk he wore on his face as he leaned on his gnarled cane was anything to go by. He wore a loose fitting white robe with black trim and gold stitching. His gnarled face looked like worn leather and his white hair was almost the same shade as his eyes. He was not only a member of the Hyuuga clan council, but the village council as well. In just a moment these faces that now promised violence would be showing cowed in impotence. He loved the feeling he got when he watched people become subservient to him. Not even the Hokage or the other Sanin would dare say or do anything to him and relished the looks on their faces as they realized this.

"That monster," he began to say just before something happened to him that hadn't happened to him since he was a child. He was yelled at!

* * *

Naruto's face seemed stoic, but the perceptive could have made out the pain he felt in his eyes. Even the most perceptive however, have trouble seeing through their preconceived notions. Consequently even though perception is considered a Hyuuga strength, the old man couldn't see it. 

It's a sad statement on human nature, but it is truly amazing what a human being can get used to. Naruto had dared to hope that things would have gotten better after his absence for two and a half years. Apparently he would have to prove himself, something he felt he was now equipped to do. He was going to do what he always did and ignore the man, but he remembered yelling at Hinata to get her to stand up to herself during the Chuunin Exam. He had said that it made the people watching her angry when she didn't talk back to Neji. But how could he face the strongest girl he knew if he was unwilling to do the same. He was about to send back a retort when something exploded inside Hinata.

She hadn't been half this angry when she had faced Kabuto, but after watching the villagers silently revile the one she loved, this old man had brought her to critical mass. She had heard of people seeing red when they got angry, and maybe there had been a bit of red tint to that first white flash. But now all she could see was black and white, mostly white.

Due to their unusual properties Hyuuga eyes could be scary. But if the look she fixed on that old man could kill, half of Konoha would have been turned into a smoldering crater. She had been the Hyuuga heiress for long enough to know who the old man was, she even knew his name. But at this point the quiet, unpresuming Hyuuga heiress was gone and in her place stood a woman who had been scorned for the last time! She was locked on target and was going to explode all over him.

"**HOW DARE YOU!"**

Hinata's voice was so venomous that some of those who were present at the incident still state that it was an attack intended to kill the old man where he stood. Hyuuga Kiree nearly fell off his cane. Naruto being the one closest to her nearly wet his pants. The remainder of their party suddenly turned to face the girl, shock evident in all of their faces. We'll assume that it was the poison still in her system that caused the experienced Jounin, Kurenai to become weak at that particular moment and suddenly drop to her knees.

"Naruto is NOT a monster, he's a hero! Just by breathing he's been protecting this village from… from… _that_ monster since… since… he was a child!" Hinata screamed at the old man.

"The day he was born actually," the grey haired Sanin supplied softly.

Sakura turned and stared at the back of the old Sanin's head. Hinata's eyes were still trying to incinerate the old man. Kurenai was looking at Hinata and Naruto while Jiraiya and Tsunade were enjoying the look on the old mans face.

Naruto however, couldn't seem to lift his eyes from Hinata's feet. She knew. That fact seemed to reverberate in his head. Not only did she know, but she was defending him. Did that mean she didn't hate him? He didn't dare look up at her.

The old man was flabbergasted. In all his years no one had ever dared speak to him in this manner. He would have never guessed that that girl would have ever had the audacity to speak to him this way. Had he been less outraged, he would have probably taken it as proof that he was right in backing her as heiress during the last counsel meeting.

Pushing on his cane to stand up straight and attempt to over come the natural stoop to his back Councilman Kiree stood in a way that he hoped was regal. "Young lady, do you know to whom you speak?" the councilman asked.

"I appear to be speaking to a senile old man, _Senator_ Kiree," was Hinata's reply. Few know it and fewer still know when it actually began, but several generations ago Hyuuga Clan Councilmen began referring to themselves as senators when not in public.

Hyuuga Kiree looked like he'd been doused with a bucket of ice-water. The old man sputtered. He wouldn't stand still for this. There was no way he would let that little girl talk to him this way.

"I don't know who broke the law to tell you about it, but it appears they gave you the same propaganda they have been giving us for years," Kiree stated while staring accusingly at Tsunade and Jiraiya. "But the truth is that there is no seal that could have protected that boy from the demon. It would have eaten his soul the very moment that it was trapped in his body. So…"

Hinata was about to quote the 5th Hokage directly, but Jiraiya beat her to it. Lunging forward he lifted the old man off his cane and brought him to eye level. The councilman's feet were dangling in the air as Jiraiya began to yell at him.

"How dare you suggest that my prize student would sacrifice the life of any child, let alone …!" Jiraiya was livid and it showed. He'd almost said something he shouldn't have. Shaking the man Jiraiya continued his tirade. "I've examined that seal myself and it's a work of genius! That fox is right where the Fourth left it and it is completely incapable of ever doing anything to harm Naruto." With one more shake Jiraiya forced himself to let go of the man, leaving him to fall unceremoniously on his backside.

Apparently oblivious to the altercation that just transpired, Naruto finally managed to look up at Hinata. His eyes betrayed him. Naruto hadn't looked as vulnerable the day he was born.

The sight nearly brought tears to all four kunoichi's eyes. Had Hinata not been so full of murderous intent she would have probably burst into tears and wrapper her arms around the poor boy. As it was the sight sent a chill up her spine and forced the anger out of her in an almost audible rush.

No longer driven by her anger Hinata couldn't help herself and smiled shyly at the boy who seemed so vulnerable as he stared at her needily. Seeing that sign of acceptance Naruto felt energized and a smile lit up his face. She knew and she didn't hate him!

Kurenai and Sakura were trying not to cry at the sight. Jiraiya wanted to take out his notepad, but knew it would ruin the moment. Tsunade did however shed a tear and was about to rush forward and embrace the boy when that annoying man choose to make himself known again.

* * *

Hyuuga Kiree wasn't as spry as he used to be. It took him a few moments to start to get back on his feet. He was outraged that someone would dare to manhandle him. He would not stand for this disrespect. The counsel would hear about this he raged to himself as he stood up more painfully than normal. He couldn't do anything to the Sanin right now, but that girl, it was her fault this had all started in the first place. He had the Sanin cowed before she had spoken up. He would let her walk away from this thinking she had won! 

"It seems," the old man began in the calmest off hand manner that he could manage, "that I was wrong to have supported you young mistress." All eyes turned back to the man and stared at him in outrage as he continued. "Apparently your father was right; you are most definitely not suited to be the heir to the Hyuuga Clan. Yes, I believe I will be happy to support your sister as the heir."

The truth be told his decision to back Hinata in the Hyuuga Counsel had nothing to do with her competence or that of her sister. He had simply mouthed the fear that they all felt. Hanabi was simply too young to take over the position. The Hyuuga would look silly replacing the heir with one so young who had yet to do anything notable enough to prove she was the more worthy. They wouldn't have to do anything official until Hinata was 17 in a year or so, and if Hanabi hadn't done anything notable enough a few things could easily be arranged since their father wouldn't be expected to step down until Hinata was nearly 30. There was plenty of times to deal with things without the embarrassment that of turning down one heiress for another so young and unproven.

But right now Senator Kiree was quite happy that the counsel had overruled him. The look on this girls face as he so brazenly informed her would be priceless. "I suppose the announcement will be made in a few days, once your sister has had timed to rest from her most recent mission. Then you'll be joining the branch family I suppose."

The vindictive old man was right, the look had been priceless. However he was yelled at again. He was not quite so surprised this time. He should have expected it he told himself as Naruto bellowed at him.

"I won't allow you to do that to her!" Naruto's voice came out in rush.

"And how, pray tell, do you intend to stop it?" the old man asked through his snide grin.

Senator Kiree was beginning to chuckle to himself as Naruto obviously searched for an answer. Hinata's heart melted hearing Naruto stand up for her, while most everyone else just sighed, waiting for him to come up with an answer.

Naruto had spoken without thinking. He knew it was right and had therefore promised to do it without thinking about execution. Naruto placed one fist under his chin in a thoughtful gesture as he began to think about it, ignoring the sighs and chuckles he got. He totally missed the girl swooning off to his side.

Suddenly Naruto began to step forward to enter his own 'nice guy' pose to promise that he'd find a way. He was thrown off balance mid step, however when Tsunade began to casually address someone who had just walked up. Quickly regaining his balance Naruto turned to face her and was about to yell at her for ignoring him when he was about to say something important before he saw who it was that she was talking to.

* * *

Hiashi had to force Hanabi to go to the hospital. She had insisted that her wounds were insignificant. Her wounds weren't life threatening by any stretch of the imagination, but the girl didn't seem to understand that you didn't have to be at death's door before you got treatment from a doctor. He'd told her that the masses were easily frightened and quick to jump to conclusions. We can't have one of the Hyuuga Clan head's daughters running around injured. It would make the Hyuuga appear weak and that could cause the people to loose faith in the Hyuuga's ability to protect them. Even after that explanation he'd still had to all but drag her to the hospital. 

Hanabi and Hiashi had just left the hospital. Hanabi was unhappy with the situation. She couldn't stand to be babied and she really couldn't stand to be treated as weaker than her sister. Most of her life she'd been compared to her big sister. She'd done her best to be as good as and better than her sister. She'd beaten her sister in numerous fights, she'd become a genin years earlier than she had, and still she was treated like a baby and dragged off to the hospital for minor injuries. She'd seen her sister in greater pain from practicing and no one forced her to go to the hospital. No, Hanabi was not happy at all.

They had not traveled two full blocks from the hospital when they ran into an argument. Several members of the Hokage's party were glaring daggers at Senator Kiree. What had Senator Kiree gotten himself into this time, Hiashi wondered? Kiree was notorious for getting into trouble.

The Hokage however was looking at him lazily. At least she had some sense of decorum unlike the barbarians she had deemed to surround herself as an escort. Hopefully they hadn't embarrassed Konoha with their actions. Hiashi had no idea why she had elected to take his weakling daughter, but at least she would know how not to embarrass herself in public.

Grumbling to himself Hiashi approached the group so he could diffuse this situation. The Hyuuga Clan didn't need an incident right now, not especially with the changes that were about to take place. He expected to have to interrupt the conversation, so he was completely unprepared for the Hokage's statement.

"That's an interesting bet you're making there Hyuuga-San," Tsunade said as casually as she could muster.

Hiashi never gambled, not with money or anything else he did. His actions were always calculated to give him exactly the results he desired without being subject to chance. Consequently he had no idea what the Hokage was talking about. That confusion and his surprise at being addressed while trying to think of a way to quietly break up this scene is probably why he couldn't come up with a response more intelligent than the barely audible "huh," he let slip.

Tsunade continued on, as if she had missed the clan head's confusion. "I realize that Hanabi is stronger that Hinata was at her age, but most Shinobi never become as strong as strong as Hinata is now, and she doesn't appear to have reached her limit yet. Are you sure that that's the way you want to go? Or is this a change in Hyuuga Clan doctrine, sending the strongest members to the branch family?" Tsunade's predatory grin hid the gears that were turning in her head. That maniacal laugh that she'd been making since they had met up with Naruto chose this time to escape her lips.

That grin and chuckle Tsunade had made was unnerving Hiashi. He wondered what she could have up her sleeve. Had he known what Tsunade was really planning he would have undoubtedly been irate.

Suddenly Hiashi understood what she was talking about. Senator Kiree had undoubtedly told her that Hanabi was going to become the heir. Seeing his other child for the first time Hiashi had to fight down his furry. If that man had told Hinata before the announcement he would have him removed from the counsel. No for this breach of protocol he'd have the man become part of the branch family.

Quickly making sure he had kept his composure Hiashi spoke, "Unfortunately, she is _currently_ more powerful than Hinata."

"Really," Tsunade said smoothly in her best hustler voice. "Then I'll have to talk to her Jounin instructor to make sure she is able to take the upcoming Chuunin Exam. I'll expect to see great things from her." This time Tsunade and Jiraiya were both chuckling.

Hiashi didn't know what to say. He was confident that he knew which of his daughters was stronger and he was upset that the Hokage would dare suggest that he didn't. Tsunade's demeanor however made him hesitant. He was about to collect his family members and leave when the self-important _Senator_ decided that he wouldn't be ignored.

"Really," the senator said in his most _innocent_ voice. "While we definitely expect great things from our Hanabi, I don't see why you would if you were only comparing her to Hinata."

Ignoring the self-important, pompous snob Tsunade looked Hiashi in the eyes, a grin gracing her lips and continued. "So Hyuuga-san, do you think your daughter's ready for the Chuunin Exam?"

Clearing his throat Hiashi decided to bring this nonsense to an end. "I've spoken to her instructor and we both believe that Hanabi is ready for the Chuunin Selection Exam."

Furious about being ignored Hyuuga Kiree decided to get another dig in. "Unfortunately it is unlikely that Hinata will ever be ready."

Hinata hadn't been reacting to the conversation very well. Her body seemed to have a mind of it's own as it brought her arms up in front of her and tried to make itself smaller. She found herself biting her finger and holding back tears at senator Kiree's last statement. Senator Kiree would have been pleased to see the results of his taunting if he hadn't been furious for having been ignored.

Naruto was shocked to see Hinata change so suddenly. One moment she had been about ready to rip the Hyuuga guy's head off and now she seemed so hurt by the stupid man's comments. Naruto couldn't understand how some one so strong could suddenly become so vulnerable all of the sudden, but seeing it something inside of him snapped.

Having been made to feel worthless as a child, Naruto understand how Hinata felt. Some would say that after suffering so much as a child he felt that no one else should have to suffer. While this is true it's a simplification of the truth.

Naruto seemed to know several things instinctively. He knew that the greatest power man could possess, was the power to never give up. He knew that the most effective way to make someone love you was to love them first unconditionally. And most surprisingly since he had never received love as a child and sadly, possibly because of that fact, he knew that the most effective way to ease suffering was with love. Consequently when he saw someone suffering, his heart instinctively reached out to that person.

Some would say that love is the ability to derive happiness from the happiness of another. If this is true love has a very unfortunate side affect: feeling pain and sadness from the suffering of another. Had it been Naruto alone feeling the pain he now felt in his heart, he would have simply smiled and endured it, but sometime somewhere his heart had cataloged Hinata as one of his precious people and he wouldn't let her suffer.

Just as Hinata was starting to feel like running away crying Naruto couldn't restrain himself anymore. "What do you mean? Hinata took the Chuunin Exam her first year as a Genin!" Naruto yelled at the stupid man.

Hiashi began to usher Hanabi over toward the senator. This was exactly the type of incident he'd been trying to avoid. At least if it was only _that boy_ yelling people would just assume that the monster was just making trouble again.

Feeling smug Hyuuga Kiree grinned and faced Naruto. In the voice he used to lecture people like they were children he replied. "It's true that Hinata took the Chuunin Selection Exam the first year she was a genin, but she obviously wasn't ready as evidenced by her performance. She was obviously carried by her teammates, both of which are now chuunin while she isn't. Further she hasn't taken the exam since they both became Chuunin. She's obviously too weak."

"She's not weak!" Naruto yelled. "Hinata's the strongest girl I know!" Jiraiya winced seeing the same vein pop up on Tsunade's and Sakura's heads.

"Maybe she's strong by your standards, but to the rest of us…" Suddenly Kiree's lecture was interrupted by the deep rumbling belly laughter of Tsunade and Jiraiya.

It had been a long time since Hyuuga Kiree had been yelled at, but he couldn't remember ever being laughed at; especially not to his face. Shocked he didn't really know how to react. Further he couldn't figure out what they could possibly be laughing about.

Before she had finished stifling her laughter Tsunade turned to Hanabi and said, "It appears you'll be having some stiff competition in the exam, since you'll have to face your sister."

Without hesitation Hanabi answered, "I can beat her."

Her father was only a second behind saying, "I was unaware that she had a team."

"Well it's been hard to find Genin in her _weight class, _but now that her last teammate has arrived the three of them will be taking the exam together." Tsunade replied casually, as if it had been her plan the whole time, as opposed to the truth that she had just made the decision on the spot.

"_Weight class?"_ Hiashi asked lifting his eyebrows in a manner that was both questioning and disapproval if the statement had been meant as a slight.

"Strength," Tsunade said hurriedly. "It's just that now that there are only a couple of genin that are as strong as Hinata, so it's been hard to find a team that she won't unbalance."

"Well that's certainly nice of you to say Hokage-sama, but it's unnecessary," Hiashi replied brusquely. "We all know the truth," He continued. "Consequently Hinata will not be taking the Chuunin Exam this time."

"That's brilliant!" Jiraiya exclaimed. "If you keep Hinata from competing there's no chance that people will be able to tell that you passed up the stronger heir for the one that was easier to control. And sense she hasn't participated in the exam recently no one will expect a thing."

Hiashi began to show how flustered he was about this whole situation as he got a little red around the collar. Thanks to that vile senator he felt like had he'd been pounced on. Well, he'd deal with that old codger later.

"It's nothing of the sort," Hiashi retorted. "We simply don't wish to have further embarrassment tarnish the Hyuuga name."

Taking up the challenge Tsunade replied as casually as she could. Unfortunately her poker face was legendary; it had never fooled a soul. Grinning ear to ear she exclaimed, "Well, I guess it would be embarrassing if your new heiress got her butt handed to her by the old one!"

Unable to help himself Jiraiya burst into laughter. Hiashi put his shy daughter to shame as his entire head turned an incredibly bright shade of crimson.

Infuriated Hiashi yelled, "Fine, and who would my daughter's teammates be!"

"Why my apprentice Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto," Tsunade replied, daring Hiashi to say something about it.

Hiashi didn't object, but through grinding teeth asked, "And their Instructor?"

"Jiraiya," Tsunade answered simply.

Forcing a laugh before Jiraiya could complain the self important Hyuuga councilman stepped toward Hiashi finally closing the gap between them. "We see what you're trying to do, but it won't work. The Chuunin Exam isn't a test that a person's teammates can pull someone through, as Hinata's already proven. And the exam is in just under two months, not even Jiraiya-sama could teach her enough to pass the exam let alone beat Hanabi."

"Fine!" yelled Jiraiya, who was not about to have his teaching prowess questioned. He had trained the Fourth Hokage and now Naruto. If he could teach Naruto anything he had the patience of a saint as well as being a genius, if he did say so himself. "If Hanabi wins I'll train her as well."

"What is this, some kind of bet!" Hiashi yelled. "Do you expect me to decide the destiny of the Hyuuga clan on a gamble? I suppose you expect me to agree that if Hinata can surpass Hanabi in the exam that she'll remain the heir and Hanabi will join the branch family?"

"**NO!" **Naruto and Hinata had yelled as one.

"If it means that Hanabi won't have to be a branch family member, I would gladly take her place," Hinata managed to stutter out; now feeling abashed after being so bold.

Turning to face Hinata, Naruto began, "Hinata, no… You don't have to…" His voice caught in his throat as he saw her face. She was almost crying, but had steeled herself against the consequences of her decision. She knew what she was sacrificing and she was willing to do it. He couldn't let her be branded with that cursed seal, but how could he tell her not to help someone, especially if that someone was her sister?

"Actually the terms are much stiffer than that," Tsunade replied. "If Hinata wins, she will no longer be your daughter."

"What!" several voices echoed as one.

"You expect me to me to risk one of my daughters on a bet?" Hiashi asked shocked.

"If you know your daughters it wouldn't be much of a risk," Tsunade replied. "Besides it's not as serious as it sounds. She can keep the name until she's married and if you wish you may continue to provide for her welfare. Nothing needs change except that I will have final say over her welfare until she's of age."

"Why would you even want this?" Hiashi asked, scared for the first time in this whole conversation.

"Well I'm the last direct descendant of the First Hokage, and I don't have an heir," Tsunade replied. She didn't really care about an heir, though she knew it was something that Hiashi could understand. The fact that she had never had children did sadden her at times, but she was already making plans to spoil her grandkids. "Besides it wouldn't be much of a bet if once you knew who was the strongest you could make them the heir."

"What?" Hiashi and Kiree said in unison.

"It's not a bet unless you risk loosing something," Tsunade said as if explaining something that anyone two year old should know. And who knows, maybe she had been gambling that long, no one had ever dared to ask. "In this case if you win you make the strongest of the sisters your heir, but if you loose you won't be able too. Therein lies the risk you take being wrong."

Hiashi nodded his head as if he'd just learned something profound. Now that he understood gambling, he saw that in this case it was a way he could be even more right than he already was. He liked that. And for the first time he felt what a gambler felt when he was dealt a full house. He couldn't loose. He already knew what would happen.

Kiree had made many bets in his life, not that they'd ever been fair, and he saw something a little different than Hiashi did. He saw an opportunity to have the Hokage over a barrel. Now Hyuuga Kiree wasn't the type of person to ever be upset with himself. So it didn't even occur to him to berate himself for not seeing this Hokage's weakness sooner despite how obvious it seemed now. He immediately decided that he would use it to his utmost advantage, starting with getting back at the girl in front of him. He knew the perfect way to get back at a girl that would side with a demon against him!

Coughing to get everyone's attention the conniving old man began to speak. "It occurs to me that the terms of this bet are hardly fair. If Hinata wins, we loose a promising clan member."

"Now he says she's promising," Naruto grumbled to no one in particular.

"But when," Kiree coughed as he corrected himself, "I mean if we win we gain nothing we don't already have."

"We can and are already making Hanabi the heir, and while the offer to allow one of the legendary Sanin train her is of great value, it hardly compares to the life of a clan member."

Tsunade had known that this was coming. If it had just been Hiashi she could have probably gotten him to agree to a bet this one sided, but she didn't think she'd get away with it while the councilman was present.

"Well what stakes do you propose then?" Tsunade asked trying not to cringe at the hammer that she knew was about to fall.

"The demon child's life," Kiree answered before he was given a free one way trip across the street and into a post compliment of 'Old-Lady-Tsunade Aeronautics and Pain ltd.'

"What did he say?" Tsunade said, her fist still extended as she turned to face Hiashi.

Jiraiya couldn't help but shiver having been on the 'business' end of that fist before. Seeing the old fool twitching on the ground he hesitantly raised his voice. "Uh… er… Tsunade, maybe you should just stick to a single finger on men that old."

Tsunade just ignored him, but Naruto and Sakura both shivered at that comment. Seeing this they each turned to the other and pointing, shouted. "When did she?" they both said before they turned away embarrassed. Hinata and Kurenai both looked confused. Kurenai however, didn't look jealous. Jiraiya couldn't help but chuckle at the kids.

Meanwhile Hiashi was quite pleased, if a bit jealous. He wouldn't be able to get the simple satisfaction of beating that old man, but he was pleased that he had gotten what was coming to him. No, Hiashi amended, he was starting to get what was coming to him, but he would have to see to that later as he had an irate Hokage glaring at him.

Most sane men have a natural instinct that when the see an irate woman moving her face toward them as if to bite their face off, they try to placate them. Perhaps it was his Hyuuga pride or the rush of gambling for the first time, but Hiashi felt emboldened.

"I think you misunderstand what the councilman meant," Hiashi began.

"I better have!" Tsunade interrupted warningly.

"But he makes an interesting point."

"What!" Tsunade said angrily.

"If I loose, my family looses a member, it's only fair that if we win we gain a member."

"Naruto would become a Hyuuga?" Tsunade said as she quirked an eyebrow.

"He'd have to be a member of the branch family, but yes," Hiashi replied. Hiashi quietly congratulated himself. He'd finally be able to do something to get back at the demon that had taken away so much of his family.

Before Tsunade could thank Hiashi for his graciousness in offering one of the village hero's his eldest daughter, because how else was Naruto to join the Hyuuga clan, Naruto shouted out. "I'll do it!" Naruto's voice drowned out Hinata's protests.

Naruto finally found a way that he could keep both Hinata and her sister from getting that killer seal placed on their forehead. If he could make Hiashi agree to the bet, then all he had to do was make sure Hinata proved that she was stronger than her sister in the exam. He'd train with her until she was the strongest Hyuuga to ever live, if that's what it took.

It took Tsunade a moment to realize that Naruto had just agreed to wear the Hyuuga's mind destroying seal, not marry Hinata as she had been about to arrange.

"I won't allow it!" Tsunade yelled.

"I said I'd do it Tsunade-ba-chan! I won't take back my words!" Naruto yelled over both Tsunade and Hinata's protests.

"Do I have to use my finger on you again!" Tsunade yelled at Naruto. "I told you before that only a fool gambles with his life."

"I'm a ninja Tsunade-ba-chan!" Naruto yelled back. "Every day I put my life on the line not only for what I believe and the people I care about, but for people I don't even know!" Taking off his hitai-ate /the ninja forehead protector that all ninja wear/ he continued, "The only difference here is that I have less to loose." Then in an action that everyone present would remember for the rest of their live he offered it Tsunade and yelled. "If you're saying that I can't risk my life to protect one of my precious people from that cursed mark, than you're saying that I don't have what it takes to be a ninja!"

Looking at him Kurenai could see that that boy had grown. 'He's becoming quite the man' Kurenai thought, 'He'll be good for Hinata.'

'Naruto-baka has grown, it seems he understands what it means to be a ninja better than I do,' Sakura mused, 'He may one day be Hokage.'

'Every day I see a little more of you in him, Fourth,' Jiraiya thought. 'You'd be proud of the boy,' Jiraiya wished that the Fourth could be here to see what Naruto had become. 'You're wrong though Naruto,' Jiraiya though 'It has noting to do with being a ninja, it's about being a man.'

Tsunade didn't know what to do. She couldn't let Naruto risk his life like this. The Hyuuga seal is embedded deep in the brain. Officially the seal only sealed the Byuakugan after death but unofficially it could be used to both torture and kill by any Hyuuga main house member. It was how they kept the branch house subservient. It was also a crime, but because of how important the Hyuuga were to Konoha's defense, no one had ever challenged them about it. If they put it on him they would use it to torture him until one of them finally killed him on purpose or on accident. And Naruto probably knew it.

"This isn't like that Naruto," Tsunade pleaded. "You aren't taking your life in your hands, you're leaving it in someone else's."

"You just said that Hinata and I would be teammates," Naruto responded softly. "Teammates have to trust each other. They have to trust the other to put their life on the line to protect them." Then in a yell Naruto finished: "If you're saying that Hinata isn't worthy of that trust, then you better take our hitai-ate's from both of us!"

Hinata didn't know what to think or feel seeing Naruto put so much trust in her. Didn't he know that she always failed? How could he trust her? Suddenly a terrible thought occurred to her. He didn't trust her, he just didn't care. Maybe he even wanted to become a Hyuuga, it that's what it took to have a family."

"Naruto, you can't!" Hinata squeaked. "You don't know what that seal can do!" Hinata's voice was panicked.

Naruto's reply came out stark and cold. "Yes I do. It can kill me."

"But why?" Hinata begged of him.

"Because I trust you," Naruto replied calmly. "I wasn't kidding when I said that you were the strongest girl I know. I don't believe you will fail."

"But I'm not strong," Hinata replied. "I always mess up." Hinata couldn't bring herself to meet Naruto's eyes. She held her hands in front of her and turned her chin into her shoulder. "No matter how hard I practice I can't seem to ever do anything right when it counts," Hinata's statement was cut off by a sniffle as she began to cry. "Ever since Kiba and Shino became Chuunin, all I seem to be able to do is get people hurt; I keep having to be moved from team to team," Hinata said between an ever increasing amount of sobs and sniffles. Internally she begged him not to make her say more. When Naruto didn't speak up immediately, she begged him out loud, "Please don't let me hurt you too!"

"Hinata, a lot of people have reminded me that I'm not perfect," Naruto began reaching out to put his hand on her shoulder. His hand brushed her chin causing her to look at him. "Most of them were very rude about it," Naruto chuckled slightly before he continued. "One of them told me that I make a lot of mistakes, and I fail a lot, but she told me that I was a proud failure, because I have the strength to get back up." Naruto made sure to look her in the eye before continuing. "Hinata, that's what I believe real strength is, and I know you have it."

Now that he Hinata had made eye contact, Naruto felt he could let go of her shoulder. "Hinata, I believe that if you have the strength to get up every time you fail you will always succeed. I saw your fight with Neji. I saw you keep getting up no matter how badly he hurt you. You never gave up. That's what real strength is Hinata. Tsunade-ba-chan might hit harder than you, and all sorts of people might do all sorts of things better than you. But the strongest ninja isn't the one with the most chakra or the best techniques; the best ninja is the one that keeps getting up until they've won."

Tsunade wanted to cry. Why did Naruto have to grow up, why did he have to be willing to take risks like this for the right reasons. She could have stopped him from doing something stupid, but how could she stop him from doing something right? Thinking fast she realized that she could still use the marriage trick, she'd just spring it on him Hiashi as when he was by himself.

"Are you sure you want to do this Naruto?" Tsunade asked in the steadiest voice she could muster.

"Yes, Tsunade," Naruto replied. And turning back to Hinata he made his 'nice guy' pose, complete with his confident grin and said, "I know you won't fail," forestalling the objections that Hinata wanted to make.

Naruto was right, Tsunade thought. Hinata couldn't loose and even if she did Tsunade would make sure Naruto didn't get that mark. He didn't have a Byakugan to seal. She'd let them know that she knew what else that seal did and that if they tried to put that mark on her Naruto-kun she would do something about it. She'd put an end to it and see that everyone responsible faced punishment for treason!

Grinning maniacally she turned to face Hyuuga Hiashi. "You have yourself a bet," she yelled, entering her version of the 'nice guy' pose. Her version, however involved extending her hand out to shake on a bet.

Hesitantly Hiashi reached out to shake her hand. Hinata watched in terror. "I accept," her father said coldly. Hinata felt her world shattering; she would be responsible for the death of the person she loved the most in this world!

Hinata seemed to deflate as she watched a woman she had previously thought she could trust making a deal with her father that would doom the greatest man she had ever known. She felt powerless to save him. Feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders she was betrayed by a woman she thought she could trust, the Hokage.

"So, how will we determine the winner?" Hiashi asked gruffly.

"Well, the final test of the exam is a tournament," Tsunade stated what they already knew. "It would seem like the logical choice. It would be a simple matter to arrange for the two of them to face each other."

"It will have to be in the first round," Hiashi said brusquely, while giving Hinata a disapproving look.

"And if there's a need for an elimination round, we may wish to just let them through to ensure that they're able to fight in the finals," Tsunade said while giving Hanabi an appraising look. In truth she was trying to figure out how much she weighed. She was wearing a fairly conventional ninja uniform. It didn't appear to have places to hide weights. The advantages to using weights during speed training are immense, but it's primarily known for the advantages in strength and stamina. The Hyuuga fighting style relied primarily on their Byuakugan and skill. They seemed to feel superior because their fighting style couldn't be copied and that it was powered by finesse and not physical force. Tsunade doubted that they'd degrade themselves by using a training technique known primarily for enhancing strength. Hanabi's ghi was sleeveless; there were definitely no weights on her arms. Hinata's jacket probably weighed more than the little girl did.

"The dignitaries will probably want to see this particular match as well…" Tsunade trailed off thinking, before she began to chuckle. Her chuckling grew louder and louder until suddenly Hinata couldn't take it anymore.

"What are you laughing at? This is Naruto's life were talking about!" Hinata yelled; furious at the woman that seemed to have betrayed her.

"I'll be out of debt!" Tsunade exclaimed happily. "All the people I owe money to will be there! I'll be able to go double or nothing. Even better I'll be able to rake in…"

"What!" Naruto yelled out. "You can't bet on Hinata, you'll jinx her!"

"What are you talking about, Naruto?" Tsunade yelled back cheerily. "Not even I can loose this bet!" Tsunade exclaimed excitedly.

Kurenai and Hinata were thoroughly shocked, Sakura couldn't restrain her laughter, and Jiraiya tried with all his might not to laugh. Tsunade ignored them all. She was far to excited by the prospects of winning the biggest bet of her life.

Coughing, Hiashi interrupted them. He knew the Hokage's luck with gambling was horrifically bad. That must be why she thinks Hinata is stronger than Hanabi, he thought. She must just be comparing their size. Well she'd learn it's not just the size of the fighter that determines their strength, especially not with the Hyuuga's Jyuuken /Gentle Fist/.

"So I suppose the winner will the one with the first knock down," Hiashi said simply. In truth he didn't like having his authority questioned. He knew what was best for the Hyuuga as well as his children and he didn't like having anyone, even the Hokage, interfering with that. He would get this bet settled and leave, so that when it was all over he could teach her not to interfere with things that she did not understand.

"No," Tsunade answered as if shocked that he'd even suggest such a thing. "Didn't you hear anything Naruto said?" Tsunade asked. Seeing Hiashi's confusion, which was quickly turning into anger that he should have to endure that monster's presence, let alone listen to it. "The strongest fighter isn't the one that's less injured or the one that knocks the other one down the most. The strongest fighter is the one who is standing in the end. If the fight is going to determine who is strongest, than it will have to be a fight to the last man…" Tsunade stopped, reconsidering her wording. "Or in this case last woman standing," Tsunade amended.

"Very well, then it's settled, unless of course Hinata doesn't make it to the final round," Hiashi stated.

"I wouldn't worry about that much," Tsunade replied. "But what should we do if the little one doesn't make it? Should we just…"

"My _NAME_ is _HANABI_ and _I WILL_ make it through this test all the way to the end and win your _STUPID Tournament!"_ Hanabi yelled angrily.

"That's enough Hanabi," Hiashi said softly, but still silencing his daughter. "I propose that should one party not make it to the finals that party looses."

Tsunade didn't like it. She was comfortable that that if Hinata faced her sister in a one on one fight Hinata would win, but the first two portions of the exam could be pretty random. The stronger party could run across an even stronger team and leave those who are weaker to get through. She had hoped to avoid the issue and just make sure that they fought in the finals, even if one of them didn't make it. It was a chance she didn't want to make, but with Naruto and Sakura with her, Hinata should make it through. "Well then if you're sure _Hanabi_ can make it to the final test, it's settled," Tsunade replied with as much confidence as she could project

"Very well then," Hiashi replied. Seeing his daughter glaring at the Hokage, Hiashi thought it was best that they finally leave. "We shall be off then," Hiashi stated casually as he steered his daughter away from everyone and back home. He'd leave Senator Kiree were he lay and let him or whatever 'good Samaritan' happened by to take care of him.

It was obvious to Hiashi that they thought that they could teach Hinata some kind of stamina technique to keep her fighting longer than Hanabi. The Hokage obviously didn't understand that since it was the internal organs being attacked by the Jyuuken, the first person to go down would always loose. There is no way to protect or toughen the internal organs, no amount of stamina will allow someone who is brought down by the Hyuuga's gentle fist to win, they would just be too badly hurt to put up enough of a fight. That was why all sparring matches only went to the first knock down. Well, if they wanted to go that way, now was just as good a time as any to start increasing Hanabi's stamina. By the time the Chuunin Exam arrived, he would ensure that his daughter could outlast any genin in Konoha!

Before Hiashi had gotten out of yelling distance Tsunade turned and yelled to him. "If I find any strange marks on my new heir when I win, I will be very displeased and I will thoroughly punish whoever is responsible!"

Hiashi didn't even turn around when he yelled back, "Yes Hokage-sama." He'd known that she wouldn't allow him to put the seal on his child if she won. That was probably what the misguided woman had wanted all along. He knew he should feel outraged at the interference, but he couldn't shake away his relief that he wouldn't have to put his other child through that yet. He couldn't shake the part of him that was saddened that now there would be no getting out of doing it once the Chuunin Exam was over.

* * *

The Hokage's party walked the rest of the way to the hospital in relative silence. Tsunade kept making thoughtful sounds as she went over their plans. 

When they finally arrived Tsunade sent Sakura in with Kurenai. Still grinning she turned to face the two remaining genin. "Well you two make sure that you get enough rest tonight, because you'll be back on active duty starting tomorrow!" Tsunade beamed at them.

"Alright," they mumbled in unison.

"Hey, Naruto, what's with the depression, I thought you said you trusted Hinata with your life," Tsunade said loudly. "You weren't lying were you?" Tsunade demanded.

"No ma'am!" Naruto shouted, straightening up from the slouch he'd been in.

"And Hinata," Tsunade turned to face the quiet girl, "Make sure you don't beat your sister as bad as you did Kabuto!"

"Yes ma'am" Hinata shouted in reply, similarly straightening her back.

"Good! Your father's going to expect me to patch her back up if you beat her too badly."

"Yes ma'am" Hinata replied again.

"Good, now I expect to see you in my office at nine tomorrow morning," Tsunade continued. Suddenly struck with inspiration Tsunade grinned and added, "Oh and Naruto I want you to escort Hinata from her home tomorrow, so if you don't know where it is you better have Hinata show you." Not getting a rise out of Naruto she began to be concerned until he hesitantly spoke up.

"Uh, Tsunade-ba-chan, what team will we be?" Naruto asked completely throwing Tsunade off.

"What do you mean Naruto-kun?" Tsunade asked.

"I mean that we can't be team 7 without Sasuke, so what team will we be?" Naruto asked, only hesitantly saying his former teammate's name.

Chuckling Tsunade yelled dramatically, "From now on you will be: Genin Cell Alpha!" Tsunade spread her feet wide and with one hand pointed to the sky for dramatic affect.

Oblivious to the sheer hilarity of it all Naruto pumped his fist back and cheered. Unable to take it anymore Hinata started to laugh. Her laughter was therapeutic and after all the stress she'd just been through she couldn't seem to stop.

For a moment Naruto found her laughter hypnotizing. He'd never heard Hinata laugh before. He sat there staring dumbstruck seeing a side of his new teammate he'd never seen before. He waited until her laughter had died down a bit before he offered to go training with her. As they were walking away he offered to spend as much time training with her as she wanted. He promised that he'd help make her the strongest Hyuuga that ever lived if she wanted.

'Well the girl is certainly going to be spending a lot of _quality_ time with him, but I wonder if this is really what she had in mind,' Tsunade joked to herself. With Hinata believing that Naruto's life was in her hands she'd probably open up a can of kick butt on her sister. Poor girl probably has no idea how big of a whuppin she is about to receive. Perhaps she would have to set up a couple of fully stocked surgical rooms in the stadium, just incase things got too brutal.

Grinning to herself, Tsunade thought that she had been dealt two of a kind that looked like they were forming up to be a full house.

* * *

End Chapter 2 

Sorry about the length of time it took me to update, I had hoped to update sooner. When I was finally ready last night there were server problems, and I couldn't log on to upload. Ahhhh!

As I mentioned I personally don't like to see extended notes at the top or bottom of a story. And while I do want to answer questions or comments made by readers, I don't like to do so at the end of chapters. To this end I will answer questions and comments made in reviews in the review section. I have already done so once, and will continue to do so periodically. Just click on the number of reviews and look for long reviews made by KlosetAuthor for comments.

I would also like to state that I respect all the opinions of all of the reviewers and do not intend to make light of them. However, when I write analytically or about technical things I have a tendency to come of sounding disrespectful and rude. I do this while speaking too, but hopefully my tone of voice is there to let you know that I don't mean to be rude. Unfortunately that doesn't happen while righting. So if it sounds like I've disrespected your or someone else's opinion, I didn't mean to. I Promise I will not intentionally make rude comments and if I disrespect someone's opinion, I will not make comment. (However that doesn't mean that if I haven't answered yet that I don't respect someone's opinion.)

I have found that in literature that many people can take completely different, and some times opposite things out of it; just like life. Sometimes what you take out of it can be completely different, and better than what the author intended. (I've read some things written by authors that were completely full of KRAP, but seen people take good things away from it.)

Please stay tuned for the next chapter of Hinata's Story: Genin Team Alpha.

Hinata will face her father, secrets will be kept, and antes will be upped…..


	3. Genin Cell Alpha

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1 and don't be stupid enough to pay to read this story.

* * *

Hinata's Story: Underneath your Clothes 

Chapter 3: Genin Cell Alpha

Naruto was excited to be going on missions again. Consequently he had woken up even earlier than normal. During training he had been expected to get up before the sun to begin practice. Ero-senen never got up that early, but somehow he always managed to catch Naruto every time he tried to sleep in and give him an extremely uncomfortable wakeup call. At least that was when the old pervert had even deemed to oversee his training. During those times Naruto usually worked until he fell into an exhausted heap and woke whenever he was rested and went back to working.

Unable to get back to sleep due to excitement, Naruto had gotten up early. One would think that we would find him casually walking toward the Hyuuga Estate arriving early so as to be certain to get to the Hokage's office on time. But Naruto had been unable to contain himself and wait in his apartment, so he had left to do some early morning training. He had gotten back home and showered with enough time to get to his appointment when he remembered that he was required to escort Hinata to the meeting. So when Hinata first spotted him moving toward the compound that was her home he was late and moving at a full tilt run.

* * *

Hinata had gone to bed crying the night before. It wouldn't do to suggest that she hadn't enjoyed her time alone, training with Naruto the previous night. In truth the only thing she hadn't enjoyed about it was the time it had ended. Naruto, used to rising early had suggested that the both get home early to make sure they were rested for their first mission together tomorrow. The thought of spending the day working with Naruto electrified her and left her unable to suggest they train a little longer. 

While waiting for Naruto she found she could loose herself in the memories of it all. There hadn't been much special about the training, mostly they had shown each other the various methods they liked to use to train. Hinata's father would likely have been very displeased had he known that she had shown him her techniques for practicing the Hyuuga's Jyuuken /Gentle fist / style of fighting. He had in turned showed her several of his techniques and practice methods. After all the events of the day she had been emotionally worn out and somehow had managed to softly speak with him in depth about her fighting style and training methods as they had begun to work out ways to train together. It all seemed like a dream to her.

The dream had quickly become a nightmare when she had returned home. Determined to stop the foolishness she had confronted her father. He had just finished meeting with the Hyuuga mansion's architect when she was able to speak with him. Senator Kiree had been very unhappy that she had been admitted to see her father before him.

Hinata had intended to demand that the bet be called off immediately, but her father had interrupted her immediately and demanded to know what Senator Kiree had told her. Her father had become infuriated when she told him what had happened, but steeling herself for the confrontation she immediately demanded that the bet be canceled.

Her father had refused just as quickly. She'd tried convincing him the whole thing was foolish, then begging, but her father would not relent. Finally she had stated that she wouldn't compete in the exam. Hiashi was furious and had told her that if she didn't compete she would simply forfeit the bet. Then he told her that if she did not compete and do a satisfactory job he would disown her and send her to serve as a shrine maiden in a temple he knew of in the mountains.

It was with these thoughts Hinata had cried her self to sleep. She had awoken late and in not much better spirits. After getting over the shock of waking up late she had sat in her bed thinking things over. She had plenty of time to think thanks to how late Hokage-sama had scheduled their appointment. She had determined that as of now her only recourse was to defeat her sister in the Chuunin Exam Final Tournament. Some how she just knew she would fail. It didn't seem to matter how strong she got, she always seemed to fail at anything she tried.

Finding herself unable to hold back her tears, Hinata had stayed in bed crying. Being stronger than her sister wouldn't be enough she thought to herself, she would have to become more than what she was. But her Naruto-kun was depending on her to win.

Thinking about Naruto-kun helper her stop her tears, it always did. She knew he wouldn't give up. In her situation Naruto would give everything he had to help her. The truth was that was what he was doing. He was risking his life to keep her from getting that mark. Thinking this she just didn't think she could give Naruto-kun any less than her best.

Hinata, like most of the Hyuuga household usually awoke before dawn. Even after sleeping in and crying it was still early in the morning for most common people. She passed Hanabi in the hall. Hanabi was on her way out to meet with her genin team. Noting the redness of Hinata's eyes Hanabi had made a comment, calling her a weakling crybaby. After cleaning up she had to bear her fathers disappointment over her laziness as she ate breakfast. She had wanted to tell him that the Hokage-sama had requested her presence at nine and that she had elected to ensure that she was well rested before then, but had elected to keep silent.

Hinata had decided to wait for Naruto outside the gates of the Hyuuga estate, hoping to forestall any confrontation between her family and him. She walked outside the gates an hour before the Hokage's appointed deadline, so that she would be there before Naruto-kun. After waiting there for five and then ten minutes after the time Naruto-kun should have come she began to get worried. She figured she could run to the Hokage's office and be there on time, but if Naruto-kun hadn't forgotten and came to get her he would be late and could get into trouble. She had decided to wait for him when she finally saw his orange form barreling down the street at an incredible speed.

Skidding to a stop he slid right past the girl. Even before he came to a stop he started to yell. "Hurry up, we've gotta run or we'll be late!" he yelled as he started to run back the way he came; clearly expecting Hinata to run with him.

Hinata followed him and they immediately took to the roofs. Hinata hadn't noticed, but during the course of her training she had become quite fast. She was faster than anyone on any team she had been on for some time. Some of her instructors would have likely said that she was the fastest genin in Konoha. Unlike Hinata they would have been amazed to watch Naruto clearly moving faster than her. Hinata however was not only unsurprised, but seemed to accept it as if she had expected it.

Sliding to a stop in front of a clock Naruto exclaimed, "Oh no, we're going to be late."

Due to her speed Hinata managed to catch up only a couple of seconds. "I'm sorry, if only…" Hinata began softly.

Interrupting her as if he didn't even hear her, Naruto squatted down. "Quick, get on my back," Naruto commanded.

Hinata's heart skipped a beat. She couldn't possibly have heard him right. She just stood there looking dumbly at his back as her cheeks began to color. "W-w-wh-a-a-a-t?" Hinata began but was cut off.

"Hurry, we don't have much time." Naruto said quickly, waving his hands that were at his hips.

Turning beat red Hinata pulled herself forward and climbed onto Naruto's back. Naruto immediately hooked his arms under her legs and began making seals as he stood up. "Keep you're head down," he said.

This time Hinata didn't have to be told twice as she lowered herself into Naruto-kun's strong back. Her dreams had never done it justice. She barely noticed the lurch in her stomach as Naruto launched forward carrying the two of them toward the Hokage Tower at blinding speed. Hinata didn't notice the scenery as they all but flew by. She closed her eyes so she could concentrate on the feel of Naruto-kun's back as she pressed herself against it. She could feel the warmth of his body through his clothing against her cheek and feel his chest move underneath her hands as he breathed.

Hinata was so caught up in the sensation that she didn't even think about what people might think if they saw her clinging to Naruto-kun's back with her arms around his, hands pressed against his chest. This was fine, as only a highly skilled ninja could have seen more than an orange blur as Naruto rushed by.

Hinata would have thought that the ride was perfect if it hadn't come to a skidding stop in under two minutes. Had he been a generation earlier Naruto would probably now hold the record for the fastest trip from the Hyuuga estate to the Hokage Tower without the use of a teleportation jutsu. But, unfortunately the Fourth Hokage had found it beneficial to leave the estate at high speed on occasion and Naruto was in no danger of breaking his record.

Hinata opened her eyes to look up. She was impressed to be at the entrance to the village's capital building. She was readying herself to slide down Naruto-kun's back when instead of bending down to let her off he burst forward to run through the buildings large double doors.

Nearly falling off Hinata gripped Naruto-kun's jacket tightly. Apparently intending to run his entire way to Hokage-sama's office he began leaping off of walls, cabinets, banisters and anything else that would propel him around the building's many occupants. Hinata pulled her head back down into the small of his back without being told.

Naruto slid slightly as he came to a stop in the Hokage's office, his sandals making a squeak as they slid over the marble floor. Naruto lowered himself as he came to a stop so Hinata could get off. "See Hinata, I told you we would make it on time," the boy exclaimed happily.

Hinata had closed her eyes for quite another reason this time, when she opened them she found herself in Hokage-sama's office. Blushing fiercely she tried to get off of Naruto's back as casually as possible, however her poker face was little better than the Hokage's and completely failed to hide her shy embarrassment.

If Naruto-kun had said anything to assure her that they would make it on time it had been lost to Hinata in her previous happy daze. Not knowing what to say she simply took a seat next to the one Sakura was standing in front of and tried to sink into it.

* * *

Sakura had arrived at Tsunade's office early. She had been very displeased with her 'demotion.' Tsunade had told her that because usually only chuunin can enter an apprenticeship and because she would obviously be ready to be a chuunin when the training was done she could forgo the exam and she would be considered a chuunin. 

Sakura had tried to confront her sensei the night before, but Tsunade had managed to avoid her; hence her early visit today.

"I thought you said I wouldn't have to take the chuunin exam," Sakura complained.

"What don't you think you can pass?" Tsunade asked innocently.

"It's not about that," Sakura replied. "It's just that I though that I already was a chuunin!"

"Unofficially you are," Tsunade replied.

"Then why do I have to take the exam?" Sakura all but shouted.

"I can't very well have people saying that I gave my apprentice special treatment," Tsunade lied.

"That's not true and you know it," Sakura retorted. "I just want to know what the real reason is," Sakura stated exasperated.

Sighing Tsunade answered her apprentice. "I had intended to summarily promote the two of you to chuunin when you're apprenticeship was complete, but I need teammates for Hinata."

"This is all about that stupid bet?" Sakura yelled.

"The bet is not stupid, Naruto's life is on the line," Tsunade yelled.

"It's not like Hinata will loose," Sakura muttered.

"She will if she doesn't get over her lack of self-confidence," Tsunade replied, "which she won't do if she's not on a team with you and Naruto."

"What?" Sakura asked incredulously.

"You see Hinata thinks she's weak, but when she realizes she's as strong as the two of you, she'll finally be able to see how strong she really is," Tsunade explained.

Tsunade could tell that Sakura didn't buy it. The Hokage couldn't blame her as it was a complete lie.

When Sakura called her on it however, Tsunade was ready. Interrupting Sakura's retort before she could complete the second word Tsunade spoke in an annoyed voice.

"Look, until you've studied psychology, I don't expect you to dispute my psycho-analysis," She said as she walked toward a shelf and began removing a few large books. "If you'd like," Tsunade continued, "you can start with these."

Seeing the books on psychology something clicked in Sakura's mind. She didn't see books; she saw answers. Those books held answers to questions that had pained her for years. The answers to why Sasuke felt he had to leave her, why he couldn't just forget about his brother, and most importantly how she could help him and heal his pain.

So when she realized what Tsunade had offered her, she responded with one word: "Please."

Seeing her trick had backfired Tsunade had nothing to do but let her take them to begin studying. On the upside, she thought at least that will keep the girl busy until she realizes the real reason. By then she should know to keep quiet about it.

* * *

Jiraiya arrived thirty minutes early just like Tsunade has requested. When he got there he saw the pink haired girl he was supposed to be teaching. Groaning to himself he walked into the office. The last thing he needed was to have a student that believed in being punctual to this much of a fault. 

Jiraiya grumbled to himself as Tsunade requested her apprentice step out of the office. Taking a seat he let out a loud sigh as Tsunade closed the door.

"So am I here because you don't trust me not to keep my hands of a couple of little girls or because you don't trust me to teach them?" Jiraiya asked casually. His poker face was actually quite good.

"What?" Tsunade asked in a gasp.

Exasperated Jiraiya leaned forward. "Did you call me here to threaten me about how I treat the girls or to tell me to treat the Hyuuga girl with kid gloves?" Jiraiya asked, "Or is there some jutsu you think I can teach her so she can beat her sister?"

"I don't expect you to teach either of those girls anything," Tsunade replied her irritation starting to show. "I just made you their instructor so that it wouldn't interfere with you training Naruto."

"About Naruto," Jiraiya began.

"What about Naruto?" Tsunade asked as she walked back to her desk.

"I told you that when I was finished he'd be ready to be a Jounin. Why are you putting through this exam? When I took him you didn't have a genin that could beat him. Did you make some kind of bet on him as well or is that girl's little sister such a hotshot that you think she could take him on?"

"Her name is Hinata and her little sister's name is Hanabi, and as I was explaining to Sakura this isn't about her or Naruto, it's about Hinata," Tsunade tried to be patient as she explained.

Jiraiya had decided to be blunt "You saw her fight just like I did, if she can't beat her sister there's nothing that I can teach her that can give her the heart to do it."

"As I said, I'm not expecting you to teach her anything," Tsunade said, then grinned. "I'm counting on Naruto to do that."

"Well he does have that effect on people I suppose," Jiraiya said and sighed. "But she won't be any use to anyone if she can't perform without the boy there."

"I know, but that part will be up to her," Tsunade sighed for the first time this morning herself. "We can only hope she's able to learn that most important thing before she looses it."

"Well I guess we chose the best kid for the job."

Taking a deep breath Tsunade tried to focus on the positive. "Well I didn't call you here to discuss Hinata. I wanted to discuss how we are going to allow Naruto and Sakura to complete their training."

* * *

From there Jiraiya and Tsunade had discussed the logistics of how they would each be able to train their pupils. They eventually agreed that as long as they were just doing C and D ranked missions than they would be able to use the training time to continue teaching their pupils. Sakura would spend most of that time to with Tsunade to continue her training while Hinata and Naruto would train with Jiraiya. 

They had just come to this conclusion when a chuunin office worker handed Sakura a cipher to relay to Tsunade. Technically he should have handed it to her in person, but the communiqué didn't come under a very secure cipher and consequently the chuunin didn't feel it was important enough to worry about. Besides he didn't want to be the one to wake Hokage-sama from her paperwork, if that was what she was doing.

Sakura knocked before announcing the message she had received. After hearing Tsunade's response to enter she stepped in and handed the message to Tsunade. As Tsunade read, Sakura backed up to stand against one of the chairs in the office.

That was when Naruto had made his flamboyant entrance. Seeing Hinata on his back Sakura got angry. That moron probably didn't realize how embarrassing that was for her. If he had carried her around in public like that she was going to beat him silly.

Naruto's loud voice and the screech of his sandals alerted Tsunade to his presence. She looked up just in time to see Hinata's blushing face as she tried to hide in one of the chairs.

As her eyes turned to meet Naruto's he spoke up excitedly. "See, I made sure I got her here on time Tsunade-ba-chan."

Grinning to herself, Tsunade turned back to the communiqué. "I asked you to escort the young Miss Hyuuga here so you could get to know your new teammate. It would have been quite alright if you had been late, Naruto." Tsunade explained in an off-handed tone as she finished reading the message she had received. "Please sit down next to your teammate and wait for a moment."

At this Naruto turned to sit down. Sakura who had been standing waiting to see if she's be sent back out choose to sit down. Naruto was left with the seat at the end next to Hinata. Thinking nothing of it Naruto sat down next to her, blissfully unaware of the fact that Tsunade had arranged for their to be only four chairs so she could arrange for him to sit next to the shy girl.

Tsunade reread the message and then reread it again. Naruto didn't like to wait and his excitement over finally being able to go on missions again made him antsy quickly. Before he could speak out to complain about the wait Tsunade spoke up.

"Well, Congratulations Alpha team, it appears we've got you first mission," Tsunade said with a grin. This particular declaration was met with grumbles from Sakura and Jiraiya, though Naruto seemed eager enough. Suddenly remembering something Tsunade stopped herself from continuing her half thought up speech/pep-talk.

"But before that there is something important we need to discuss," Tsunade said bringing a fist to her mouth in a thoughtful gesture. "We should have discussed this before we got back," she continued still trying to decide how to say what she wanted to say. Finally deciding she continued.

"Sakura, and Hinata, you both are aware of what was sealed into Naruto the day he was born." Though it had been a statement and not a question, Tsunade stopped waiting for them to respond.

Shocked Naruto turned to Sakura and mumbled her name questioningly. His uncharacteristic fear found its way back to him as he looked first at his old teammate and then back at the new. Even though she had defended him the other day, did she really accept him as him and not the kyuubi? And would she change her mind? And what about Sakura-chan, he wondered? He thought he should know the answers, but he was afraid to hope.

Naruto's sudden response and change in attitude shocked both of the girls. Before they could answer the Hokage however, Naruto turned to face her. "How did they…?" Naruto couldn't seem to even say it out loud.

Tsunade was touched and though a couple of them would never admit it, so was everyone else in the room. Few things could derail the happy go lucky rollercoaster that was Naruto, but so far it had happened twice in as many days.

Seeing Hinata was about to answer Tsunade held her tongue. "Ano…," Hinata said as she hesitantly reached out to touch Naruto's shoulder. The touch sent a jolt through Naruto's whole system causing him to suddenly turn toward the shy girl.

The sudden movement caused Hinata to retract her arm and stutter some more. "Ano…uh…Kabuto…he…uh…told us," Hinata finally managed to get the words out of her mouth. Her voice was quiet, even for her, but it seemed incredibly loud to all present.

"Kabuto…" Naruto muttered.

"Yes," Tsunade replied. Her voice cal and quiet seemed harsh and deafening to those who had just been listening to Naruto and Hinata's even quieter tones. "The fact that he broke the Third's Edict will have to be added to his list of crimes and the Bingo Book."

Naruto seemed to be overcoming his fear, but was still silent. Sakura looked at her sensei incredulously. "Compared to betraying Konoha that can hardly significant," Sakura said flabbergasted.

"On the contrary, it carries the penalty of death," the Fifth replied. She could have dropped ice cubes down the backs of both of those girl's shirts and not gotten them to look as shocked and sit up as straight.

"W-w-what w-will h-happen to us?" Hinata stuttered out softly.

"That's what I wanted to discuss with you," Tsunade said seriously.

"You can hardly blame us for a bunch of stupid people who can't tell that Naruto isn't the demon they hate so much! If they can't tell the prison from the prisoner, than that's their own stupid fault," Sakura shouted.

Sensing the girls fear Naruto yelled out. "You can't blame them! The law was that no one of this generation was allowed to even know about the law. Even if they asked they had no way to know that it was a secret!" By the time he was done Naruto had stood up from his seat.

Raising her hands in a placating gesture Tsunade tried to explain. "No one is suggesting that either of them is at fault Naruto," she said before turning to Hinata and Sakura. "However as Naruto just mentioned there is a law that no one was to tell any one of your generation that the Kyuubi was sealed inside of Naruto."

"What?" Sakura shouted again. "Some of us lost parents to that thing, didn't we deserve to know how it was really defeated."

"Deserve?" Tsunade asked angrily. She stood up and slammed her hands on her desk rattling its contents. "Didn't Naruto deserve to at least live a normal life after what he lost to defeat that monster?" Tsunade asked venting anger. "When he dies he will be the only shinobi in the history of the world that will have ever given every living breath in the defense of his home and how has he been treated? That law was created to attempt to give Naruto a chance at being accepted by his peers and it stands!" Tsunade slammed her hand against the table to emphasize the last point. Sakura and Naruto both felt compelled to sit back down

Feeling she needed to calm herself after looking at Hinata, who seemed about to burst into tears again, Tsunade took a deep breath and seated herself again. "I'm sorry I yelled at the two of you," Tsunade said looking at both the girls. "I need to tell you that you are never to tell another soul about this. What is sealed in Naruto's belly is his secret and if anyone is to be told, it will be by him and not the two of you, is that understood?"

"Yes," the both answered quietly after a brief pause.

"You are also not to discuss it with any of the adults or where anyone else might be able to hear you," Tsunade informed them. "Do you understand?" she asked again.

"Yes," they both answered again.

"I also expect that you'll want to question Naruto about all of this," Tsunade continued "You are not to discuss it where it can be overheard, and if Naruto doesn't wish to discuss it or any part of it you are not to pressure him."

Grabbing the letter that she had received, Tsunade decided to change the subject. "Now that that's settled, it's time we discussed you mission," Tsunade said as she began to read the message again.

"You'll be recovering a missing person and bringing him back to his father, then escorting him to the capitol where you will act as his body guard until he's returned to his father." Tsunade turned away from the letter to face them. "You should all be able to handle something that easy right?"

"No way, absolutely not!" Naruto yelled out.

Everyone was momentarily stunned. Sakura was about to grab Naruto and beat him down before the Hokage did. Sakura didn't want to have her sensei's temper directed any where near her. "You can't expect all our missions to be exciting and dangerous you…" Sakura yelled at her former teammate before Tsunade's belly laughter cut her off.

Tsunade had just realized how long this mission might take. She was thinking about how she might be able to get Hinata and Naruto sharing a tent when she couldn't help but laugh. Noticing everyone staring at her, she gave a wicked grin and asked, "Is something wrong?"

"Yes!" Naruto said exasperated. "You can't assign us something like this on the first day! We're a new team. Sakura and I have worked together before, but we've never worked with Hinata and Hinata and Sakura have never worked with Ero-senen before. We need something small so we can get used to working as a team before we go on any big missions."

Sakura dropped the fist she was about to hit him with as well as her jaw. Tsunade was taken aback as well. She had expected him to complain about how boring the mission was, especially sense she had initially chosen a mission best suited for Hinata to show off her skills. Smiling to herself she was impressed by Naruto's growing maturity.

Jiraiya chuckled to himself, the kid sometimes managed to impress him too. "The fact that they haven't worked with me before shouldn't be a problem," Jiraiya explained. "I won't be taking any action unless absolutely necessary to protect your lives or accomplish the mission. It will be up to you three to complete this mission if you expect to be able to function as chuunin."

"Ah, tell us something we don't know Ero-senen," Naruto mumbled. "You decide to try and go six hours without peeping at women?"

Jiraiya was about to scream at his apprentice when he suddenly realized that if he had to travel with those two girls he might very well have to. Desperately he began to contemplate his options

"Jiraiya is right, so all that leaves if for you and Sakura to get used to working with Hinata and Hinata to get used to working with you. That shouldn't be much trouble for people with any hope of becoming chuunin any time soon." Dropping the letter on her desk Tsunade continued, "Besides this looks like it's just some over eager daimyo who's making too big a fuss about his son staying out too long."

Seeing Naruto wasn't impressed Tsunade sighed and continued. "There's not much we can do as you were specifically requested for this mission."

"How could a daimyo know he was back or about our team already?" Sakura asked a little surprised.

"Actually he doesn't, he requested Hinata specifically," Tsunade replied.

"Wait, this couldn't be another one of those cloud punks attempts to steal her eyes again could it?" Naruto asked angrily.

Normally Hinata would have become all warm and gooey inside hearing Naruto being concerned for her, but the thought of someone trying to capture her for her eyes had always frightened her. Sometimes she had wished she could give up being a Hyuuga and just be normal without having to worry about blood limits and people trying to steal them.

Hinata wasn't the only person that was bothered by the idea. Maybe it was because he had never had any family to tell him scary stories, but the thought of having his eyes removed always wigged him out. He hadn't thought about it much during his fight with Neji, but afterward he had thought about it, and it had scared him a lot more than he would ever admit.

"I doubt it," Tsunade replied. "He didn't ask for her by name, he just requested the 'Hyuuga girl that had helped during our last diplomatic mission.' Besides, if that's what he wanted why would he arrange a mission to the Fire Capital where it would be almost as difficult to abduct her as it would here?" Tsunade asked.

"That's just it," Naruto replied. "Who said they would try to abduct her in Fire Capital? If it were me, I'd request a mission that would take her some place safe to make everyone feel secure and abduct her before she got there. If everyone assumed that I wouldn't try anything until the end than it would just make the job easier."

Seeing that Hinata was getting a bit worried by the way she was cringing in her seat, Tsunade thought it would be best to put an end to this particular line of thought. "That's very good Naruto, if I ever need to have Hinata abducted, I'll know who to ask." Tsunade couldn't help but smile at her little joke. She had to keep herself from laughing when she saw Hinata. The poor girl didn't seem to know whether to still be afraid or blush at the innuendo. Naruto seemed oblivious to the implications.

"I think you're over thinking this one Naruto," Tsunade assured him. "The daimyo in question met Hinata on our last mission and it seems like he was impressed by her. I understand that the cloud tried to abduct her as a little girl, but if someone was trying to steal the secrets of the byakugan, they'd find out really fast that there are easier people to abduct than Hinata."

"Ok," Naruto said, apparently mollified.

"Ok," Tsunade said glad that it was finally over. "This trip could take a while, so everyone will need to pack for a long trip. Meet Jiraiya at the West Gate at noon, he will have all the mission details for you then. However Sakura I will need you to come here at 11 so that we can discuss your study material for the trip."

"What?" Sakura asked shocked. "You can't…" Sakura stopped when she saw Tsunade lift her hand. She knew better than to get her sensei too angry and she had been treading on thin ice all day.

"You may be gone for as little as a week or as long as a month," Tsunade explained. "We can't have that interfering with you medical studies now, can we?"

"But…" Sakura began hesitantly.

"Don't worry, I won't give you too much, I also can't have you too busy studying to complete the mission," Tsunade said trying to reassure her. "I'm sure Jiraiya will use the free time during the mission to continue Naruto's apprenticeship as well. Now everyone but Jiraiya is excused, we have a couple of things still to discuss."

* * *

Sakura had something to do before returning home to pack so Hinata and Naruto found themselves alone as they left the administrative building together. They began to walk toward their respective homes when they both sensed that they were surrounded. 

"The monster's back!" shouted a happy voice as the blurs jumped out of the shadows. Hinata let out a sight eek and lifted her arms into a warding gesture until she noticed who it was. Naruto didn't even notice Hinata bumping into him as she cringed; he just balled up his fists and made a guttural noise.

"Konohamaru!" Naruto yelled. "What did you say?"

Konohamaru's eyes bright eyes lit up in excitement hearing Naruto's voice. "Hey everyone Naruto-nii-san is back too," Konohamaru yelled excitedly.

Surprised by Konohamaru's reaction Naruto backed up slightly bumping back into Hinata causing her cheeks to redden slightly. Oblivious to the girl and still upset Naruto continued questioning Konohamaru. "Who are you calling a monster?"

Konohamaru looked abashed and stole a quick glance at his shoes before he continued. Moegi, who had her arms crossed, began taping her foot as she looked annoyed at Konohamaru. "Hinata-onee-chan," Konohamaru replied abashed.

"What?" Naruto asked shocked while Moegi yelled at Konohamaru. "I told you to stop calling her that!" the girl was indignant.

"Konohamaru, why do you call Hinata a monster?" Naruto asked while scratching his head, clearly baffled.

"Naruto-nii-chan, have you ever seen Hinata-onee-chan fight?" Konohamaru asked nervously.

"Well yeah," Naruto said.

"She's really scary when she fights, so I call her a monster, because she fights like one," Konohamaru said finally looking up to see Hinata and Naruto.

Hinata was somewhat embarrassed by the boys nickname and Naruto just seemed thoughtful. "Well she's really strong and she's really, really fast," Naruto thought out loud. Hinata kept getting redder every time he complimented her.

"She's not just strong and fast, she's really tough," Konohamaru interrupted. "When she saved me, that mean woman kept knocking her down, but she always got up. Hinata-onee-chan really scared her. She was so scared that she ran away!"

At this point Moegi decided to take matters into her own hands and use her ultimate attack: Maiden's tears-no-jutsu. "You guys just don't understand a woman's heart," Moegi said between sobs.

"I-i-it's Ok," Hinata stuttered out. "I kind of like his nick-name, i-it makes me sound brave."

"Sound brave?" Naruto asked incredulously. "Hinata you are brave," Naruto said as if it was the most obvious thing to anyone with eyes. Hinata could only blush a little more while her hands did anything they could think of to make her less visible.

Writing Hinata's behavior as normal for her Naruto turned to face Konohamaru. "Well if Hinata doesn't mind you calling her that then I apologize for getting angry at you Konohamaru," Naruto said.

Turning back to Hinata, Naruto bowed low to her. "Thank you for saving my friend," Naruto said. Naruto closed his eyes and smiled to himself, he'd finally come up with an excuse to bow to Hinata, so that they'd be even. With his eyes in that position he couldn't see Hinata's face flushing bright red.

When Hinata didn't say anything Naruto lifted his head as Konohamaru yelled out. "Oh, hey Hinata-onee-chan can you teach us your new voice jutsu?" Konohamaru said jumping up and down on each leg.

Drawn from her reverie Hinata turned to the boy with an inquisitive look. "What voice jutsu?" Hinata asked.

"I heard you had a voice jutsu that could melt someone's spine," Konohamaru replied anxiously.

"Cool, can you teach that to me too Hinata?" Naruto asked excitedly

"I-I wouldn't know any jutsus like that," Hinata said shakily.

"We heard you used it yesterday," Udon spoke up.

"Yeah, we heard that you used it on some old geezer yesterday and nearly killed him!" Konohamaru said excitedly.

"Yeah everyone's talking about it," Moegi supplied. "They say yesterday after noon when you were by the Hospital you let some old guy have it."

"Oh, you mean that!" Naruto started to laugh. "She was just really mad at the guy and yelled at him.

"Oh really," Konohamaru said, clearly not convinced. "Then why did the guy get blown across the street?" Konohamaru asked smugly.

Seeing Naruto was stumped Hinata spoke up. "Hokage-sama hit him."

Putting one hand behind his head Naruto closed his eyes and started to chuckle. "That's right, she did, didn't she? I thought maybe he was talking about someone else." Turning to Konohamaru Naruto began to speak conspiratorially. "You're right though Hinata can be _really_ scary sometimes."

Suddenly changing gears Konohamaru yelled out, "Naruto-nii-chan, check this out!" The boy disappeared in a cloud of smoke only to be replaced by an incredibly gorgeous woman. Leaning forward in the most provocative manner she could manage the naked woman winked at Naruto.

Grinning wickedly to hide his embarrassment Naruto walked over toward the jiggling girl before giving her a critical eye as he walked to the side and then behind her. "That's pretty good Konohamaru," Naruto said slapping the girls backside causing the illusion to be dispelled.

Part of Hinata wanted to be mortified while the other wanted to be impressed. She'd seen Naruto-kun use that jutsu before and was actually proud of him for coming up with it. But seeing how he'd looked at Konohamaru's illusion she was a little nervous. He didn't pass out like a lot of men do, but he had looked really closely. Had her Naruto-kun become a pervert? If he was, could she help him? If he wasn't could she make him…? No, no she couldn't think like that!

Hinata was brought out of her reverie by Naruto's excited voice. "Well it looks like your ready to go to stage two: Harem-no-Jutsu!"

Hinata was slightly abashed. He can teach that kind of thing to Konohamaru, but he wouldn't do that while Moegi was still around would he? "So that means you have to learn the most useful jutsu ever, Kage-Bunshin," Naruto yelled causing Hinata to sigh in relief.

Hinata forgot about the mission and getting ready while she watched Naruto teach his three _subordinates_ Kage-Bunshin. It was a fairly difficult technique that drew heavily on the Bunshin-no-Jutsu. He treated them like younger siblings. Absently wondered what it would be like if she could get along that well with her little sister. Naruto it appeared would make a good big-brother, maybe even a good father. The thought had Hinata resembling a tomato when Naruto finally told everyone to keep practicing and he'd work with them some more when he got back.

"Where are you going Nii-san," Moegi asked.

"You can't just start to teach us a jutsu and leave before we learn it," Konohamaru said indignantly.

"Hey, I learned it from a scroll without any help," Naruto replied. "Besides we've got a mission we have to get ready for."

"Nii-san, are you on the same team as Hinata-onee-chan now?" Udon asked.

"Yes, we are," Naruto replied, "and we've got to go pack for our mission since we could be gone for a while on a super-cool exciting mission." Naruto grinned and gave the Konohamaru corps a thumbs up.

Turning to face Hinata he yelled to her, "Come on we don't want to be late." Naruto started to jog away. Finally remembering the mission Hinata chased after him.

* * *

It was 15 minutes after the assigned meeting time when Naruto showed up. "Hey, sorry I'm late," he yelled as he ran up to them. 

"Baka!" Sakura screamed at him. "I've been waiting here for over half an hour! Where have you been?"

"Half Hour," Naruto squawked, "I thought I was only fifteen minutes late."

"That's not the point!" Sakura yelled clearly not willing to give up her anger at Naruto. "Maybe you wouldn't have been late if you hadn't spent so much time teaching your friends your perverted jutsus," Sakura seethed out as she stalked toward him.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked as he stepped back away from his enraged teammate.

"Hinata told us all about it," Sakura said as she began to crack the knuckles in her fists. "Kage-Bunshin, huh? I don't think Hinata would be that embarrassed about Kage-Bunshin."

"I'm sorry if I embarrassed you Hinata," Naruto said nervously, before beginning to turn to lead Sakura back toward the group in a loop.

Speaking audibly for the first time during the encounter Hinata began to stutter. The truth was that she had tried to greet Naruto-kun when he arrived, but the sound had gotten caught somewhere in her chest. "Ano, S-Sakura-san, he r-really did only teach them Kage-Bunshin."

"Uh-huh, you don't have to lie for him Hinata."

"B-but I-I'm not," Hinata stuttered out a little more loudly.

"Oh, then why did Naruto apologize?" Sakura asked, "And why were you embarrassed?"

Hinata didn't know what to do. She couldn't lie and tell Sakura that Naruto had been teaching them a perverted jutsu, because he really hadn't. And she really couldn't admit the real reason she had been embarrassed. So all she was able to do was blush some more.

"So the truth comes out," Sakura said victoriously.

"Hinata's not a liar!" Naruto yelled at Sakura for probably the first time in his life. Feeling bad for yelling at her Naruto continued in a much more subdued tone. "I was apologizing because I embarrassed her and she was embarrassed because I told Konohamaru that he had to learn Kage-Bunshin before I could teach him the next perverted jutsu."

Sakura was surprised. She didn't think Naruto had it in him to yell at her. Jiraiya was ecstatic; not even he could makeup drama like this. "Ok, so Hinata wasn't lying," Sakura said, "But that doesn't mean it's ok for you to be wasting time playing with your little friends when you should be getting ready for our first mission!" Sakura began to stalk towards him again.

"Hey it's not my fault the cleaning lady wouldn't let me into the Laundromat," Naruto yelped as he moved his hands in front of himself in a warding gesture. "I had to do my laundry by hand!"

"Oh really, and what did you do to her to make her kick you out of the Laundromat?" Sakura asked sarcastically.

"Nothing, she just has something against me," Naruto wailed trying to back away even faster to keep away from Sakura.

"Oh and what could she possibly have against you?" Sakura asked again, but was shocked when Naruto just looked away and didn't have a comeback. She stopped moving when she saw Jiraiya and Hinata's disapproving looks. Sakura deflated the instant she realized what had happened.

"Oh Naruto, I'm sorry, I didn't realize; it'll be better now, I…" Sakura began before Naruto interrupted.

"I don't need your pity Sakura-chan," Naruto said in the coldest voice Sakura had ever heard him use. "I've been dealing with this all my life; I don't need your pity to handle it now."

"Ok," Sakura grinned and began to pump her fist, "so what are we going to do to get back at her?"

"Nothing," Naruto said

"But why not?" Sakura asked surprised.

"What good would it do, she'd just have more proof that she was right," Naruto said quietly.

"But I thought that's why you always pulled those pranks," Sakura said without thinking.

In reply Naruto just turned and began walking out the gates. Jiraiya immediately turned to follow him. Hinata waited until she had given Sakura a dirty look before following herself.

Sakura stood transfixed. She felt guilty about what she'd said to Naruto. Even Hinata had given her a dirty look. Hinata! Sakura didn't know how she could face Naruto again after that.

Everyone had kept following Naruto even though Sakura hadn't followed. They hadn't done a thing, because both of them felt it wasn't their place. This was something Naruto would have to work out with Sakura on his own.

Suddenly Naruto stopped. Turning his head back he lifted his hand and waved. "Hey, Sakura-chan, are you coming or not?" Naruto yelled to her and began jumping up and down when she didn't respond.

Hearing the earnestness in Naruto's voice she could tell that the baka had already forgiven her. Silently she ran to catch up with the rest of her team

* * *

Jiraiya allowed him self to fall behind a bit so he could talk to Sakura privately. He reached out and touched her shoulder to keep her from walking past. 

"You know, what Naruto needs from you isn't sympathy, it's acceptance," Jiraiya said softly so Naruto couldn't hear them. He spoke so quietly that Hinata, who was closer, had to strain slightly to hear them.

"I do accept him, but when I hear about things like that, how can I not feel sorry for him?" Sakura asked.

"Do you think Naruto feels sorry for himself?" Jiraiya asked.

"No," Sakura said hesitantly

"Then why should you?" Jiraiya asked. "Look, right now Naruto probably feels a bit vulnerable. Most of his friends don't know about the seal. He's probably scared that if they find out they'll all look at him differently, or even hate him. What he needs is to be shown that not everyone will treat him differently."

"So I should try and treat him the same?" Sakura asked, uncertain if she could to that.

"Yes," Jiraiya answered thoughtfully. "Perhaps some day he'll be comfortable enough to share his feelings with you, but until then the best you can do is to treat him normally and if the way other people treat him gets him down try and help him get his mind off of it."

"Thank you Jiraiya-sama," Sakura said softly as Jiraiya began to move ahead of her.

"Hey," Naruto's yelling voice broke everyone out of their reveries. "Does anyone know where we're going?" Naruto asked sheepishly.

"What?" Sakura yelled indignantly, before she started to stalk toward him. She paused for a moment, but remembering what Jiraiya had just said she made an effort to act like she had before and continued to stomp toward her annoying friend if with a little less spirit than before.

"Hey, I just started walking," Naruto wailed. "I figured you guys knew where we were going and would take the lead."

"Baka!" Sakura yelled as she grabbed one of his arms that he held in front of himself and punched him in the face. "What if we're going the wrong way?" Sakura yelled as she put him in a headlock and continued to pound him.

"Ahem," Jiraiya coughed trying to get everyone's attention, but his voice was drowned out by the sound of Naruto's pummeling and Sakura's yelling voice. "Did you even think about that!" she yelled.

"That's enough," Jiraiya said a little more loudly.

This time his voice was drowned out by Naruto's voice as he tried to talk himself out of trouble between punches. "There's only one road...ouch...We couldn't be going…the wrong way…yet!" Naruto said as pleadingly as he could manage under the circumstances.

"That's enough!" Jiraiya finally yelled, finally making it through the din.

Naruto and Sakura both stopped and looked toward Jiraiya. It was one of the funniest things Jiraiya had ever seen! Naruto hadn't even tried to stand up. And not only had Sakura not let go of him she still had one fist in the air ready to pound him again. Jiraiya was having trouble standing up straight he was laughing so hard. Hinata had to put a hand to her mouth to keep from chuckling herself.

"What?" Naruto asked confused. Equally confused Sakura didn't let go of Naruto's neck as he stood up, causing her elbow to be lifted over her head. That was too much for Hinata. Right in front of her Naruto-kun stood dumbfounded with Sakura right in front of him, her arm wrapped around his neck in an obviously uncomfortable position, both looking dumbstruck. Hinata couldn't keep herself from laughing.

Her laughter wasn't high and squeaky like some of the girls Naruto had heard laugh. Nor was it forced, like a lot of the girls that had made fun of him. Her laughter was soft and smooth. It seemed to flow out of her naturally, soothingly.

Sakura however wasn't soothed. She didn't appreciate being laughed out. Letting go of Naruto she stomped two steps forward and put her hands on her hips. "What's so funny?" she asked.

This managed to stop Hinata's laughter very quickly. Looking both scared and abashed Hinata was worried that she might have offended her new teammate. She didn't want to be the cause of another team breaking up, especially not on their first mission. Fighting back tears she began to apologize while Jiraiya still laughed.

Hinata's only got a few words of her apology out before Jiraiya had stopped Laughing and interrupted. The words she did get out however were lost on Sakura who couldn't hear them over the laughter of the man she was glaring at.

"That's enough," Jiraiya said again. "Well before we left I was going to brief everyone on the mission, but with Naruto's late arrival we seem to have gotten a little ahead of ourselves."

"This is our target," Jiraiya said pulling a photo out of his inner-vest pocket and holding it in front of him. Everyone gathered closer to take a look at the photo. The picture revealed a teenage boy with meticulously kempt, short black hair and dark eyes. He had a youthful appearance, but was probably a couple of years older than Naruto. A real pretty boy if Naruto had ever seen one. The guy probably kept a comb in his back pocket Naruto thought.

"Ooh, he's cute, don't you think so Hinata?" Sakura asked while ogling the picture.

"Uh, I guess so," the shy girl responded hesitantly.

"Figures," Naruto mumbled under his breath.

"His name is Sutra Renjiro," Jiraiya supplied. "He was sent to Konowei city on an errand for his father, the local daimyo, and hasn't returned."

"So why ask for ninjas?" Naruto asked. "The guy's probably just living it up with the girls in the city and doesn't want to go home."

"Maybe, but his father's agents confirmed that he left the city 3 days ago and hasn't returned," Jiraiya replied.

"So does his father know where he is now?" Naruto asked.

"No, that's why we've been called in," Jiraiya sighed out.

"Not much to go on," Naruto said putting his fist on his chin in a thoughtful gesture.

"Well Konowei is in Sutra district, so presumably if his father is the daimyo, Lord Sutra then he should be headed to the capital Sukuro city right?" Sakura asked.

"Yes," Jiraiya supplied.

"But Sukuro is easily a three day walk from Konowei, why is Lord Sutra even worried?" Naruto asked.

"They left by carriage, even at a slow pace they would have been there by the next day," Jiraiya said.

"So what, do we just head to Konowei and have the Sakura and Hinata hook up with the local fan girls and then have us hit the bars looking for guys bragging about the recent _conquests_?" Naruto asked.

"That's up to you guys," Jiraiya replied. "I told you if you expect to be chuunin you will have to be able to lead a team without help, so you'll all have to figure out how to accomplish this mission on you own. If you can't than you have no business taking the chuunin exam."

"So you're not going to train me anymore?" Naruto asked.

"No I'll be training you up until the beginning of the chuunin exam, just like Sakura will be trained by Tsunade, but you'll all have to learn how to accomplish missions without the help of an instructor."

"Well Sakura what do you think?" Naruto asked.

"What?" Sakura responded surprised.

"Well if we have to do this all ourselves, what do you thing we should do?" Naruto asked again.

"Well I figure that if he's in town, he's probably safe, but it he's not we need to find him as fast as possible," Sakura said. "So we should probably search the road between Konowei and Sukuro first."

"Well," Naruto muttered as he began drawing in the dirt on the path. "Konowei is here," he said making and x mark in the dirt. "Sukuro is here," Naruto made a mark above and slightly left of the first. "And we are here," he made a mark a fair distance to the right of both marks. "If we follow this road it will take us to the road in-between the two about a quarter of the way to Konowei," Naruto said drawing connecting lines and standing with a grunt.

"Well we can either loop around and cover the quarter of the road closest to Konowei twice or we can try and leave the road and go straight to Konowei," Sakura said gesturing with her foot. Hinata paid rapt attention, but didn't say anything.

"The problem is we might be slower running through the forest and may get lost without a more detailed map and compass," Naruto interjected.

"You're right, it will probably be faster to stick to or near the trail," Sakura agreed. "So we'll just have to loop around I guess."

"So what do you think, Hinata?" Naruto asked startling the girl.

"I-it all sounds ok," Hinata said softly.

"Hey, you don't have to agree with Sakura just to be nice," Naruto said a little bit too loudly, "If you have an idea let us know."

Naruto's smile was infectious and his look was so earnest that Hinata couldn't help but smile a little as her cheeks turned slightly red. It took her a moment to gather her courage to answer. "Well I could use my byakugan's far-sight to look down the road toward Konowei. If I can see far enough we might not have to go very far before we head toward Sukuro." It felt like a whole book once she got it out, but she had managed to get it all out.

"That's great Hinata!" Naruto said excitedly.

It was either due to curiosity or thoroughness, but Sakura wanted details. "How far can you see?"

"Several miles in one direction," Hinata said nervously.

"What?" Naruto yelled. "I thought your eyes let you see all the way around you."

"I can do that, but only for a hundred or so yards," Hinata replied embarrassed to be talking about herself.

Sakura prodded her with a few more questions about her byakugan's ability before she was satisfied that Hinata wouldn't miss anything, Naruto giving Hinata complements about how cool it was all the while. Hinata was fairly red before they decided to take off at a fair clip toward the City. Once Hinata could see Konowei and be sure that Renjiro wasn't between them and the city they would turn around and head for Sukuro.

* * *

One of the basic abilities that ninja are expected to develop is the ability to travel at prodigious rates. This skill is necessary for both pursuit and escape. It is part of the initial training that students go through at the academy. Genin will then usually spend a great deal of their first couple of years doing basic missions that give them an opportunity to practice their skills and increase their strength, speed and endurance. These missions along with regular practice and training make up a genin's early career and are expected to prepare them for more stringent missions. Among the things it should give them is the speed and stamina to travel most of the day at high speed through most terrain that that ninja can expect to travel through. It is expected that due to the difficulty of passing the chuunin exam that any chuunin will be able to do so 

These particular genin, though they don't realize it, are all capable of traveling much faster and longer than most chuunin. This is likely due to the special nature of each of their training, giving them far more strength and stamina than most chuunin posses.

Aided by the fact that they were able to travel by road as opposed to more difficult terrain they had been able to reach the junction with the road between Konowei and Sukuro not long after night fall. They road had joined another causing Sakura to yell at Naruto about his previous statement about the road they were on taking them straight to the junction. Naruto had defended his statement by saying that Konoha was a hidden village; you can't expect the posted roads to go straight to it. Sakura hadn't been convinced.

Further conversation had been sparse. Naruto had tried to engage Hinata in conversation, but it had been difficult. She answered most of his questions with as few words as possible and had difficulty getting them out. Naruto took the girls shyness as evidence that she was having difficulty with the run. She was wearing a fair amount of weight, which he could attest to from their run earlier that day. He had offered to slow down, but Hinata had declined and when asked had assured him that she was all right. Naruto figured that the best way to train with weighted clothing was to push yourself as hard as you can to get stronger, so he said nothing else.

While Naruto may have had some trouble with the silence, Hinata had enjoyed watching the young man run. Being this close to him was electrifying her as was the concern he was showing. It also however seemed to tie her tongue and make speaking to him more difficult.

They stopped when they arrived at the junction. "I guess it's time for you to do your thing, Hinata," he said before walking over into a clearing and lied back looking at the stars.

"Y-yes," Hinata had stuttered out. It had taken her a moment to remember what her _thing_ was but when she did, she quickly brought her hands in to the appropriate seals and activated her byakugan.

It didn't take Hinata long to find their man. It surprised her a little. He wasn't very far from them and was hiding in forest not too far from the road.

"I think I found him," Hinata said softly.

"Oh," Naruto said sitting up, "I thought you said it would take longer than that?"

"Uh," Hinata got out before she was interrupted.

"Why are you complaining?" Sakura lectured, "She did better than she thought."

"Uh, he wasn't very far," Hinata said

"Really, where is he?" Naruto asked as he began to look around.

"About a mile that way," Hinata pointed down the road toward Konowei. "He seems to be hiding off the side of the road."

"Is he ok?" Sakura asked.

"I don't know," Hinata replied

"Is anyone near him?" Sakura asked again.

"No," Hinata replied.

"Anyone between us and him," Jiraiya asked.

"I'll have to look," Hinata replied humbly. She should have checked that she thought. Lifting her hands back into the appropriate seal the veins around her eyes bulged as she searched the area between them and the boy. She also checked just behind them and just past the target.

The search took a few minutes. "There is a group of men not far from here they are on the other side of the road."

"How close?" Naruto asked with a grunt as he stood up.

"A little closer to us then to the Renjiro," Hinata said.

"Not you too Hinata," Naruto wined. Hinata's surprise was evident on her face. "I expected it from Sakura, but one look at his pretty face and you're both fawning over him."

Hinata's face started to redden and she was about to make a reply but Sakura beat her to it. "Just because we remember his name doesn't mean that we're fawning over him," Sakura yelled stalking toward her male teammate. "Not all of us are bakas."

"Um maybe we should get going," Hinata said hoping to prevent a fight.

"I think your right," Naruto said weakly.

Sakura just sighed and stopped. "We should probably go through the trees to avoid tipping off the other group of people incase their after our target. Can you lead the way Hinata?"

Hinata didn't hesitate to take to the trees and moved a fair way into the wood before turning toward Konowei and their target. Naruto grumbled, because he was on the wrong side of the road and had to walk back across it.

They made it to where the man Hinata had found without much trouble. Hinata took the lead Sakura and Naruto were behind her in flanking positions and Jiraiya held back watching them.

They had to slow down to get by a scout. They moved around him, though Naruto had wanted to simply go over him in the trees to see if he was even good enough to spot them. The girls had overruled him, though Hinata's opinion almost had to be pried from her lips. She thought it was best to go around, but she really didn't want to disagree with Naruto-kun.

When they finally arrived the young man in question was asleep on the ground with a jacket thrown over him. The only clue that he might have been in distress was that there was no fire. That could also have been due to a lack of skill as a woodsman as well however.

They all landed silently and began to walk toward the slumbering young man. Naruto took the lead as he walked toward the jumbled heap that was the young man's sleeping form. Hinata reopened her byakugan by channeling chakra back into her eyes. She didn't have to use the seals again as she hadn't completely released it.

"Naruto-kun, look out!" Hinata screamed just before the apparently sleeping young man jumped out and grabbed Naruto's arm and placed a wicked looking knife at his throat.

"Drop you weapons or..." the young man screamed. Meanwhile Naruto slid under his arm while throwing his head back to keep his throat clear of the knife. A quick pull of to the young man's arm and a twist of his own body and Naruto landed on top of his assailant, twisting his knife arm behind his back. Bending the boys elbow, Naruto placed the tip of the knife on the boy's spine just above where Naruto's own knee held him down.

From this position Naruto finally got a good look at the knife that had been at his throat. The blade was as long as Naruto's forearm; it had a curved tip and a jagged edge along the back. Naruto had to repress a shiver.

"Fight all you want Renjiro, but you're going back home to your old man," Naruto said loudly, as he knocked the knife away from the young man's back.

"Baka!" he yelled. "If I could get home I would be there already."

"Really," Naruto drawled out as he pulled Renjiro up by the arm twisted behind his back. "Tired of all the attention that the girls have been giving you pretty boy?"

"Does it look like there are any girls here looser!" Renjiro yelled back.

"Naruto, let him go," Sakura yelled.

"Sure," Naruto said as he pushed the young man forward and away from the knife on the ground.

"Uh, are you Sutra Renjiro?" Hinata asked softly.

"Yes," Renjiro sighed out, mistaking Hinata shyness for the breathless excitement of a fan girl.

"Are you alright Renjiro-san?" Sakura asked.

"I'd be fine if it weren't for the village idiot over there," Renjiro replied.

"Hey," Naruto yelled back. "You pulled a knife on a fully trained ninja. Which of us does that make an idiot, weakling?"

"Fully trained ninja, I heard you coming a mile away," Renjiro retorted.

"Hey if I'd have been trying to sneak up on you, you'd be dead," Naruto yelled back.

"Oh, I suppose you only sneak up on people you're going to kill, huh?" the nobleman's son sneered out.

"Yeah, that's about right," Naruto said. "You got a problem with that or do you just want to die?"

"That line might work on farmers and little boys," Renjiro said haughtily. "But I can see you, and you are all genin level ninja."

That comment caused Sakura to clench her fist as a vein bulged in her forehead. 'Blast you Tsunade, thanks to your demotion nobody respects me!' Inner Sakura stomped around Sakura's head.

"A baby sitting job like this..." Naruto began his retort.

"That's enough!" Sakura screamed just before she stepped between Naruto and Renjiro. "Both of you..."

"I see who's in charge here," Renjiro looked around Sakura at Naruto.

"Would you have a problem with it if I was?" Sakura asked menacingly as she lifted him up by his shirt.

"No ma'am," Renjiro replied quickly.

Naruto started to laugh at the young man's predicament. He got to see Renjiro glaring at him before Sakura backhanded him. Unfortunately he didn't get to see the look on Renjiro's face as he watched Naruto climbing out of the crater his body had made in the tree. Sakura, however secretly enjoyed the look. 'That'll teach that baka to disrespect me!' the inner Sakura raged.

Setting the young lord down gently, Sakura did her best impression of Tsunade's innocent, closed eyed motherly smile. She must have nailed it perfectly, because she could here Renjiro shuffling away from her. Tsunade-sama could be _scary_.

Jiraiya was trying not to laugh at the whole situation. However everyone was too absorbed with other things to notice his sniggering. Hinata had run over to Naruto and was trying to verify that Naruto was alright through her stuttering. Renjiro couldn't take his eyes off Sakura.

"Now that that's over with," Sakura muttered as she opened her eyes. Still smiling she turned to the young lord who had backed himself against a tree.

"Ouch," Naruto mumbled as he walked back toward Sakura. "You didn't have to him me that hard you know Sakura," Naruto told her while rubbing the back of his head.

Ignoring him Sakura continued talking to the now only slightly quivering young lord. "Renjiro-san, so you said that you were trying to go home?"

"Yes," he replied hesitantly.

"So what happened?" Sakura asked casually, as if nothing unusual had happened. Naruto and Hinata both walked up to hear his answer.

Regaining a little confidence Renjiro stood up a little straighter. "I was heading home when my carriage was attacked. I ran away, but instead of searching the carriage, they chased after me. I managed to loose them and have been hiding around here trying to get past them."

"Why didn't you head back to Konowei City?" Naruto asked.

"Because they were obviously after me, or they would have just looted the coach," Renjiro replied as if it were obvious. "They undoubtedly expected me to go back to Konowei and will have people waiting for me."

"Hinata can you check?" Sakura asked

"Ok" she replied softly and began the seals needed for the byakugan. Renjiro had never seen the Hyuuga blood limit and so he was a little shocked when he saw her eyes go even whiter than they had before as her irises expanded and all but disappeared while veins bulged on the side of her head. She looked toward Konowei City for a couple of minutes before her eyes returned to normal. At least Renjiro thought it was normal as her irises were just a slightly different shade of white than the rest of her eye.

"There isn't anyone between us and the city, but there could be agents in the city, I wouldn't be able to tell," Hinata said at length.

"That's great Hinata," Naruto said.

"Thank you Naruto-kun," Hinata said softly.

"Well, your father hired us to take you back home, so that's what we're going to do," Sakura said forcefully.

"Hinata, how many people where in that group of men you saw?" Naruto asked.

"About 20 in the camp and maybe as many as 10 scouting the area," Hinata's replied in her usual quiet voice.

"Did they look like they were ready to move?" Naruto asked again.

"I don't think so, I think they were waiting." Hinata said nervously.

"Those scouts looked more like they were trying to keep someone from passing that trying to find someone," Sakura thought out loud. "That's probably why they haven't found Renjiro yet."

"Then we should be able to rest for a few hours and sneak past them in the early morning," Naruto supplied.

"If they switch watches in the normal way, that's when they'll be the most tired," Sakura agreed. "What do you think Hinata?" Sakura asked.

Hinata was a bit surprised to be asked her opinion, so it took her a moment to respond. "I think that everyone could use a rest before we move," she said simply.

"Yeah we've been running all day and we might need to fight some of those guys if they get lucky and catch us," Naruto agreed

"Well, Hinata, you're the only one that's seen them are you comfortable that they're not looking for us," Sakura asked.

"Well…I think so," Hinata replied.

'Just great,' Renjiro thought. 'Why don't' you just tie me up now. I think so? That's the best that they can do! Why did dad hire such losers to come find me? That woman hokage was probably trying to slight him. Well when he got back he'd see that she never did that again!'

"Hey, Ero-senen," Naruto spoke to the old hermit for the first time since they arrived. "Are you gonna take a watch, or do we have to do that ourselves too?"

"How many times have I told you not to call me that in public?" Jiraiya said both angrily and loudly. He kept himself from yelling as he didn't wish to give away their position to anyone that might be close enough to hear.

"Bout as many times as I've told you to stop being a pervert," Naruto replied lazily.

Renjiro was drawn from his reverie by the somewhat heated discussion of the old man and the loud mouth ninja. "Who is the old man?" he asked.

Seeing that Sakura had stepped away and Naruto was still engaged in conversation with his Sensei Hinata realized he must have been asking her. Nervous Hinata took a moment to reply. "He's our sensei," Hinata said simply and quietly.

'Just great, genin ninja that haven't left their sensei,' Renjiro thought. "If he's in charge, why isn't he the one giving orders?" Renjiro asked.

Seeing that Hinata didn't have an answer to that he decided he may as well get some sleep. He'd survived for the last three days by constantly moving and avoiding the bandits. If these rookies thought that they could just stay in one place then at least if they were keeping watch they should provide him with enough time to get away. It's not like three genin ninja and some grandfather of an instructor would be a match for 30 bandits.

Renjiro went to sleep while the shinobi ate and decided on the watches. Everyone was eating something dry, but the loud mouth he noticed was trying to heat instant ramen with his hand. What an idiot was his last thought before going to sleep.

* * *

Renjiro was shaken awake while it was still dark. He was given a cup of instant ramen and chopsticks before he was fully awake. He had already eaten about half of it before he even questioned why it was hot. Looking around he couldn't see any fire that those fools had made. Well, whatever they had done, it would be too late now and if it drew the enemy to their position, then at least they were about to leave. 

The rookie ninja had finished eating and packing before he could finish the ramen. The white eyed one, who had woken him, approached him. "We should be going now, please hurry," she said breathlessly.

Renjiro hated it. Everywhere he went he ran into girls like this. There were the soft spoken ones like this one, the loud and obnoxious ones, and the ones that took every opportunity to press themselves against him. They all followed him around as much as they could. He'd enjoyed it once, but that was before her; before he realized. Now he just couldn't get them to leave him alone.

Seeing that they were alone while everyone was getting ready, he decided it would be best to deal with her now. She'd been the one to wake him up and the only one to talk to him this morning. He figured he better put a stop to it now or who knows what she might be brave enough to try next, sharing sleeping bags?

"I don't know how to say this," he began. Hinata who had been about to leave froze. "I'm sorry, but I'm not interested in you," he finally got out. Hinata began to blush. She didn't know how to deal with this.

"No," Hinata said softly while trembling slightly.

Seeing that he was crushing the poor girl's world he tried to do what he could to explain himself. "You see, I'm sorry, but…"

Hinata didn't know how best to explain herself, and was shocked by the young lord's statement.

"I'm in love with someone else," the both said almost in complete unison.

It's likely Hinata had never been in a situation where someone was more speechless than her. However at this moment Lord Sutra Renjiro, son and heir of Lord Sutra of the Fire Kingdom, found himself blushing like a school girl and at a complete loss for words. This had never happened to him before. No matter what had happened, he had always been able to talk to women about anything under the sun, but he found that he was so embarrassed he couldn't get more than a syllable out of his mouth in front of this girl. He felt as helpless as a fish out of water. Woman had been chasing for as long as he could remember. He could always tell who was chasing him. He had never been wrong. Now that he was, he didn't know what to do!

Hinata found herself in uncharted territory. She didn't know how to approach this. In front of her there was a boy blushing more than anyone she had ever seen and babbling incomprehensibly. She felt she had to say something. "It's all right, I'm sure you're nice and all, but I met him before I met you and I don't really know you."

Hinata didn't know what to say seeing that this hadn't helped. She was about to try again when the sound of Naruto and Sakura's conversation got louder and more heated.

"What are you some kind of litter bug, or are you trying to give our position away?" Sakura asked Naruto heatedly. She couldn't believe he still hadn't grasped the concept of stealth.

"We're not staying here, so it won't help them find us," Naruto said simply.

"What?" Sakura asked

"Look they look like they're just waiting for us, but if they do find it, they won't know what way we went, so they'll probably use a basic circular search pattern, and that will take time, giving us more time to get away."

"That won't stall them much," Sakura said simply.

"Yeah, but I could use some Kage-Bunshin to leave an obvious trail toward Sukuro, but not on the path we're taking and then leave a less obvious one back toward Konowei," Naruto explained his plan excitedly. He seldom got to explain one of his tricks to someone, he kind of liked it.

"We could do that, but we don't know how skilled these bandits are," Sakura explained. "They could just follow the obvious path and be able to find us faster."

"Hinata, can you check on the bandit's positions?" Naruto directed his voice toward her. He didn't yell, but made sure she could easily hear his voice.

Hinata was glad for the interruption. She nodded her head in reply and then walked away from the stammering young man as she performed the seals for the byakugan.

It took Renjiro a minute to realize she was no longer in front of him. Turning around he caught sight of her in time to see the veins on the side of her face bulge out. Everyone else just waited on her expectantly. He couldn't understand how the others could get used to it. It quite simply freaked him out.

After a few minutes of silence Hinata spoke up. "There still isn't anyone behind us, the main group is still in the same spot, and the scouts on this side haven't gotten much closer," Hinata reported. She had made sure to be thorough and look everywhere this time.

They left immediately. Hinata was glad and she did her best to avoid the young lord, who Naruto had taken it upon himself to make sure he could move stealthily. He spent most of his time getting more upset at Naruto as he kept telling him how to move to keep from leaving a trail. The boy was a fair hunter, so quiet and stealthy movement was easy, but he couldn't cover his trail very well.

Due to the prince's lack of ninja training they covered the ground much more slowly than they had the previous night. They were however able to get past the obviously tired sentries just before dawn. Hinata kept using her byakugan to scout ahead as they moved and continued to do so after they passed the main forces and the intersection of the road they were on and the one that would take them back to Konoha. The sight had Renjiro nauseous. He wanted to ask her to stop but didn't dare.

They traveled all day and when it became dark they arranged the watches and went to sleep early. Not much was said between them and in the morning they ate just as quickly as the day before and left in silence. Seeing no signs of pursuit they decided that they should be far enough away to travel on the road today.

Hinata had been avoiding Renjiro since their encounter the previous morning. But now that they were on the road the need for stealth seemed less present and everyone began to feel that they could talk freely.

It was mid-afternoon when Renjiro finally had his chance. He found himself next to Hinata with the other two younger shinobi a fair distance ahead and the old man behind. "So, what's this man you're in love with like?" Renjiro asked casually.

Hinata had hoped he wouldn't say anything. She had hoped to avoid him for a little longer, but couldn't move away from him without it being obvious. Further since it was their mission to protect him, she couldn't leave him by himself.

"H-he's very strong," Hinata said very softly.

"Oh, so you like the big muscle man type," Renjiro replied in a deep voice while doing several body-builder-like poses.

"N-no," Hinata replied still not feeling at ease talking to the young man. "He is powerful, but that's not how I meant it."

"You don't mean that he stinks do you," Renjiro immediately responded. His voice was higher and more nasal, because he was pinching his nose. Renjiro could tell that the girl had been embarrassed by their encounter the day before, so he was doing his best to put her at ease.

"No," Hinata said again, this time a little confidently.

"So how is he strong?" Renjiro asked. "Those are the only two definitions I know."

Hinata may have starting to get a bit more comfortable talking to the young lord, but she still wasn't all that comfortable talking about the love of her life. It took her a moment before she began her hesitant reply. "H-he's always been hated by most of the people he's met for something that wasn't his fault, but no matter what they say or do to him he never gives up his dream. He puts on a happy face even though he's really very sad and never lets what they do affect him."

"I don't mean to be rude, but guys that go through that are usually walking time bombs," Renjiro replied. "Eventually they crack and hurt a lot of people before they can be stopped."

"But he's not like that!" Hinata replied defensively. "He's very kind. He can't stand to see anyone get hurt. When he sees people that are suffering he always does whatever he can to help them."

"Are you sure?" Renjiro asked, clearly not convinced.

"Once he saw…me getting hurt by someone and he got very angry with him," Hinata began her story hesitant to reveal specifics, especially about herself. "He got so angry with him that he swore he'd beat him, but when the time for their fight came he was able to see that that person was suffering too. So even though he swore to beat him he helped that person as well."

"I think I'd like to meet this person," Renjiro replied.

Hinata didn't reply and it would have been suspicious if they hadn't all but bumped into Naruto and Sakura who had stopped facing a large group of rugged men.

* * *

Both parties said stood facing each other. Each expected the other to speak first. 

Naruto ran out of patience first. "Hey guys, you're in our way, move," Naruto said completely unintimidated.

The Fool probably didn't even realize what was going on the bandit's leader thought. "Hand over the Sutra boy and the rest of you may leave," the leader said.

"Hey, you see the headbands?" Naruto asked. "You sure you want to do this?"

The leader just laughed. "Three little ninja against all of the Hidden Tigers," the leader said dramatically. "You don't stand a chance."

"Three of us?" Naruto asked turning around to see who was missing. "Lazy perverted sensei," Naruto muttered.

"Hey do you know any swimming holes or places to sunbathe near here?" Naruto asked.

"Baka, what has that got to do with anything?" Sakura yelled at her teammate for loosing what little intimidation value they might have had.

"I'm just trying to figure out where Ero-senen might have gone," Naruto replied defensively.

"That's enough," the bandits' leader said. He was very upset about being ignored. He'd show them not to disrespect him. "Do you know who I am?"

"No," Naruto said simply

"Should we?" Sakura asked

"Is it too much to expect that if after fighting tooth and nail to build the strongest band of brigands in the area for three years that people would at least have heard of you? I'm Toshiro Yukio." The bandit's leader yelled out.

In response Naruto spoke softly. "Is it too much to expect that after saving whole villages and spending your entire life helping people that just one girl would be able to see something other than a monster and actually love you?"

This kid's got issues Yukio thought.

"I'm sure it's not that bad," Hinata said softly trying to reassure the blond shinobi.

"That's nice of you to say Hinata, but you really ought to just speak for yourself," Naruto said.

Heart broken Hinata tried to find something to say, before she was interrupted.

"That's enough melodrama," Yukio yelled as he drew a large machete. "Hand over the boy, or we'll take him from you by force!"

Suddenly all of the bandits began to brandish decidedly vicious looking weapons. Renjiro also drew his knife.

The three shinobi however didn't seem to be intimidated. Sakura was putting on her fighting gloves. Hinata relaxed back into the Hyuuga's fighting stance, with her hands in front of her palms down. Naruto just started to stretch a little and pop his neck.

The bandits looked dumbstruck that three shinobi were so relaxed that they didn't feel the need to draw weapons. Somehow they found that intimidating.

"Stay next to Renjiro!" Naruto and Sakura both yelled at the same time. Both charged the bandits at exactly the same moment. They dealt with several bandits in quick succession, disabling each of them in a single barehanded strike. Sakura however was a bit more spectacular as her opponents flew significantly farther away, thanks to whatever the technique was that Tsunade used.

The bandits began to counterattack after those first few moments. Naruto ducked and twisted under a bandit's swinging sword arm. Now behind the bandit, he grabbed the arm and pulled sending the bandit to the ground onto his face. Just before the bandit hit the ground Naruto performed a cartwheel back the way he came adding his weight to the sword bearing bandit's face plant and kicking an enemy who was approaching from behind in the face with the same fluid movement. He landed facing the now dazed, but still standing bandit. One solid kick to the gut bent his opponent over exposing his head to a firm knife hand strike to the base of the skull sending the man into unconsciousness.

Sakura grabbed a spear that had been meant to skewer her. Pulling it and it's bearer toward her she used it to block a swipe from another machete like weapon. She stepped forward to punch the blade wielding bandit in the face, dropping him instantly while she yanked the spear away from her other hapless opponent. Sakura stepped back to avoid a strike as she gripped the spear like a baseball bat. Stepping into her swing she broke the spear against three bandits, sending them flying into the air. Naruto had to dive to avoid two of them.

Renjiro was slack-jawed as he watched the two of them. He had met several ninja in his life, but he'd never seen them fight. How could beginners be so powerful he wondered? He was far to absorbed to notice the bandits approaching them from behind.

Hinata however, saw the bandits with her byakugan before they even tried to attack. They were a relatively small number, and they were probably planning on grabbing Renjiro and running while everyone was busy fighting the bandits that were blocking the path. Hinata had noticed them as soon as she'd opened her byakugan.

When the bandits jumped out of the brush on either side of the path behind them Hinata charged them. She took thee steps behind Renjiro and began to fight. Perhaps it was the fact that she was a girl or the fact that these bandits couldn't see what Sakura had done to their teammates, but they all charged straight for Hinata. They seemed to be in a race to be the one to beat her up.

Hinata stepped to the side, avoiding the first to arrive; leaving her leg extended causing an extremely muscular, shirtless man to trip. In a single smooth motion she turned to her side and sent her hands out to either side smacking the first man in the back as he fell and the next man in the chest. Hinata began to move swiftly to intercept as many opponents as possible. The hand slaps that she sent them as she moved expertly between her opponents didn't look very impressive but disabled most of her opponents with usually only one or two strikes.

Naruto and Sakura saw the ambush at approximately the same time. Naruto was still on the ground after dodging the bandits that Sakura had sent flying his way. He pushed himself off the ground just like a sprinter and dashed straight to Hinata.

Sakura seeing Naruto run back toward Hinata was able to see what was happening instantly. She tried to follow, but was blocked by three mountainously large men each grinning at her smugly as they massaged their knuckles.

Seeing that Naruto was going to make it in time Sakura decided to stay. She was going to enjoy taking these muscle bound oafs down a peg or two.

Naruto was impressed seeing the way Hinata moved between her opponents. She ducked under one's arms here and slipped around another there. Each time her hands shot out in a bare handed slap. It didn't look like much but every time she put someone down they didn't get back up.

Naruto got there just as one of the brigands decided to run past her and went straight for Renjiro. The young lord brought his knife up in a ready position and was about to block his would-be abductor's blade when Naruto started to skid to a stop. Naruto's body slid under Renjiro's arm and collided with the bandit with all the force of a MACK truck sending him flying into one of his companions near Hinata. A few Jyuuken strikes later and Hinata started to walk carefully around the bodies of her downed opponents to get back to Renjiro.

Seeing Hinata had matters well in hand Naruto couldn't suppress a grin as he turned around and began to move back toward Sakura. He was about half way there when he was able to fully see Sakura's situation.

Sakura was surrounded by three incredibly large men. They each had arms as big as Sakura's waist. They were probably usually very proud of this fact as they each wore tight pants and little if any clothing on their burly upper bodies. Two had shaved heads though one had a long pony tail.

It wasn't the size of her opponents that had shocked Naruto and all but stopped him in his tracks. It was their position. All three of them were crying while all the remaining bandits were standing back each with an expression of either shock or terror. Two of the behemoths were kneeling on the ground begging for mercy. The third was lying on his face with Sakura holding his arm straight up while she stepped on his shoulder. Naruto was sorry he missed it, though he was reminded again of how scary women could be.

Sakura stepped off the big man's shoulder blade and dropped his arm. "Now get out of here!" she demanded. The remaining bandits didn't waste any time getting up and leaving. A few of them limped slowly and half nursed some injury of some sort including each of the burly men Sakura had brought to tears.

"There's nothing quite like watching grown, battle hardened men cry for their mommies," Sakura said while grinning.

"Well there's something I agree with you about," said a bandit that had stayed behind. A quick look showed that he was the only one who had stayed behind. He dropped a tattered cloak to reveal equally tattered clothing. He was one of the few of the bandits who had worn any armor. The shattered remains of some of the armor that others had worn before Sakura had him them currently littered the ground.

He wore a battered breastplate and in his belt he wore a sword. He may have once been a samurai from his appearance. His hand reached clumsily for the sword on his belt as he approached. Yet despite what he must have seen he exuded no fear. Quite the opposite, despite his lackluster appearance there was something intimidating about him.

His eyes, they had to be his most unsettling feature. They were gold, like a coyote. The way he moved seemed to resemble the languid pace of a predator approaching cornered prey. His eyes seemed to glimmer menacingly as he approached Naruto.

Something about his appearance seemed to emanate an almost palpable sense of terror in the air. The three ninja and the young lord couldn't move. They felt surrounded. Like there were people watching them from the trees. Things seemed to brush up against their legs. Some of them even had to look down to make sure there wasn't anything at their feet. Their skin crawled as if covered in bugs.

The swordsman drew his sword out of its sheath slowly and carefully as he walked. The hissing of the sword on scabbard hissed dryly reminding the four of throats that had at some time gone bone dry. He raised the sword over his head in preparation of the slash that would cleave Naruto in two. Naruto felt a pressure in his back like there was someone staring at it preparing to put a knife in it. Every nerve in his body told him to turn around and face the unseen assailant behind him, but he couldn't seem to move. Time seemed to slow down for everyone as the tattered warrior took his last few steps toward Naruto before he would be close enough to cut him in two.

Hinata felt like she would be torn apart by the warring forces in her body. She felt pressure on her body trying to pull her away her instincts telling her to run. Yet there was another pull trying to make her stay completely still, as if by staying still she wouldn't draw attention to herself and would not be found. A similar battle threatened to rip apart her heart as the fear for her own life battled the fear of loosing Naruto.

The tension in her body and soul seemed to build until she was sure she would be destroyed at any moment. Then suddenly there was a terrible tearing rip. "No!" she screamed as the terrifying warrior took his last menacing step toward Naruto and began to step into his swing.

Hinata had propelled herself halfway there when she realized that she would never make it in time. Her fear and hesitation had finally exacted its horrible price on her. She saw the blade move toward where Naruto's head had been only to be dropped when Naruto punched it's bearer in the stomach shattering his breast plate and sending the fighter onto his back a few feet away.

Hinata reached Naruto just as the bandit began to struggle to his feet. Naruto, Sakura and Hinata, each took a menacing step toward the bandit. The bandit, his armor now bearing a jagged hole over his stomach, stood shakily and backed up a step. "How did you over come the Reikon Isukumi /Soul of Paralyzing Terror?" he asked gasping.

"I have a scarier bellybutton," Naruto said in a gravelly sounding voice.

Seeing that he wasn't going to get a better answer and that he had seriously underestimated his opponents the bandit reached behind him to remove a small package. His actions caused each of the leaf shinobi to tense and enter their combat stances.

Pulling on an edge of the package caused a spark lighting what appeared to be a fuse. He threw it straight at Naruto. Hinata jumped toward Naruto to tackle him while Sakura attempted to jump toward the desperate bandit.

The package exploded in a blinding flash of light and when the shinobi could finally see again the bandit was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

A Branch family member had escorted Hanabi home as soon as she had been done with her mission. She was told her father wished to see her. It was just as well she thought as team training would probably be canceled today. 

They had gotten a simple mission as usual. It was a little more exciting than most of their missions, but it was still very simple. Some farmer was loosing chickens to some scary sounding creature. He was too scared to deal with it himself, because of the strange noises he heard, so he hired ninja to do it for him.

Hanabi had found the culprit easily enough with her byakugan. It was a juvenile fox with its leg caught in some kind of trap. It was far to slow to elude them, but it had tried an interesting trick. Unfortunately it had no way of knowing that Hanabi could see it the whole time so after a brief chase the _battle_ had begun.

It hadn't been much of a battle. Three shinobi versus a lame fox, but Hinote-Sensei had insisted that they treat it as such. Suraido-senpai had used his mud slide jutsu to cover the area in mud all but stopping the fox in its tracks. Kei-senpai then ran along the top of the mud toward the fox, though she left the whip she would normally be brandishing coiled on her hip. Hanabi had been so tired of it all that while expelling charka from her legs to dispel the mud she had also ran toward the fox intent on killing it with a single Jyuuken strike. Kei-senpai had gotten there first and stopped her.

Then she had the audacity to remove its leg from the trap and put it in a splint! She had then picked up the fox kit in her arms and said she was going to take it to a vet. Sensei had told Kei-senpai that their mission was to kill the creature eating the chickens, not help it. The girl's reply had been that if she took it with her it wouldn't be able to kill the chickens.

Hanabi had been disgusted. But it had gotten worse when they got back to the farm. The farmer's wife had immediately started fawning over the little animal. She had helped Kei-senpai to patch it up and feed it. Neither had left the fox's side all night as they waited to see if anything else attacked the live stock that night. Nothing had, so they had come home.

Once they had reported to the Hokage, Hanabi had immediately been brought home. She had been allowed to bathe before seeing her father in the training hall. When she arrived the floor had been covered with padding. Her father was standing looking wistfully at the vaulted ceiling of the hall when she had arrived.

"Excellent Hanabi," Hiashi said as she entered. "You have done well and soon you will be graduating from this training hall."

Hanabi's curiosity was piqued. She had never seen her father train himself or anyone else in any room other than this one. She wondered what she could possibly be graduating to.

"Take a look around this room Hanabi," her father continued placing his hand on her shoulder and moving the other arm in an all encompassing gesture.

Hanabi obliged by looking around the room. At the wooden floor now covered in thick mats, the Paper doors and windows. The expansive room was simple yet elegant. Many places in the Hyuuga compound were very ornate, but not this place. Hanabi had always found its simplicity soothing. In this room form always followed function. There was not a single aspect of the room that did not have a function of some sort. There was nothing superfluous or ornate about it.

"When you can walk around this room, you will be finished with it," Hiashi said.

Hanabi was shocked. "But I can walk around the room father," Hanabi replied slowly, "you have had me run around it many times."

"Ah, you've run around the perimeter of the dojo, but this will be slightly different," Hiashi replied knowingly.

"I don't understand," Hanabi replied.

Smiling down at his daughter Hiashi stepped away and removed his overcoat. Beneath the robe his clothing were tied at his forearms and ankles. He placed his robe in the crook of his arm and walked toward the far wall. However instead of stopping or turning when he got there as Hanabi had expected he shocked her by putting a foot on the wall and continuing to walk up it.

Hanabi watched in awe as her father walked across the ceiling. His Hair seemed to be the only part of him that was obeying the laws of gravity as he moved. Hanabi's mouth was still hanging open when her father finished walking toward her.

"That is how you will have to walk around this room if you expect to leave it," Hiashi said before he chuckled to himself. His choice of words gave him an idea.

"How do I do it?" Hanabi asked excited to be learning a new skill.

"It's a simple exercise of expelling charka from your feet. You must expel a specific amount of charka from your feet, enough to hold you up, but not enough to push you off. It's a simple exercise of control that shouldn't be very difficult for a Hyuuga. It should be easy for you."

Hiashi began to walk away from his daughter and stopped by the entrance. "There is some chalk on the dais that you can use to mark you're progress. You will stay here until you can walk across the room. Someone will be at the door should you need anything. You're meals will be brought in should it be necessary." Hiashi smiled as he left the girl alone to her task.

A couple of hours later Hanabi was lying on her back looking at the chalk marks on the wall. She remembered her teammate's reaction to when she had confronted her about the fox.

"How can you keep a fox like that," Hanabi had said angrily. "A fox once nearly destroyed our home and killed a lot of our people."

"So," Kei-senpai replied, "this fox didn't."

"What does that matter?" Hanabi had asked perplexed, but still angry.

"A ninja killed my brother," Kei said. "Should I kill every human I see, or just every ninja?"

"That's not the same," Hanabi had huffed.

"Isn't it?" Kei asked snidely

"No," Hanabi said

"Look if I go around killing every fox I see, I'll only be doing what the kyuubi was doing; killing innocent creatures," Kei began to get more forceful as she continued to speak. "I would be mocking the people that died defeating it."

"It's not mocking," Hanabi had said angrily.

"By killing innocent animals, I'd be showing that I was the same as what they were trying to protect us from and I'd be emphasizing how weak we were by only being willing to fight things weaker than us."

"But you said you wanted to become Anbu, aren't you trying to get revenge for your brother?" Hanabi pounced.

"I don't want to become Anbu to get revenge," Kei said quietly. "I want to become Anbu, so I can keep people from having to loose family to dangerous people, like the one that killed my brother."

"Sure, so you say," Hanabi responded snidely.

"Tell me Hanabi-chan, does hating this little fox make you happy, or does it just upset you?"

Kei-senpai had asked in a sincere voice, but Hanabi just scowled.

"My mother told me that hating something can never make you happy, it only hurts," Kei-senpai said. "By hating the man that killed my brother, I only be giving him the power to hurt me even though he's not here anymore."

"So you're saying that by hating the kyuubi, I'm just giving him the power to hurt me, even though he's already dead?" Hanabi had asked.

Kei-senpai hadn't responded. "Why do you want to keep him?" she asked after an uncomfortable silence.

"He reminds me of a boy I saw at one of the chuunin exams once," Kei-senpai had replied embarrassedly.

"What? How?" Hanabi asked surprised.

"Well he won his fight by tricking his opponent, just like this guy tried to do," Hanabi's teammate began to relate as she picked up the fox. "But you see the boy was facing one of you Hyuugas and he had closed all of his tenketsu but he never gave up and he managed to break free of it, just like this guy never gave up even though he was hurt with his leg in that trap." Kei-Senpai had scratched the happy kit behind the ears; to which it had responded happily.

Hanabi remembered the boy in question. She had seen him the day before in front of the hospital. She didn't know whether to be upset with her for liking someone who had stood up for her sister, or to be happy, because she thought her sister might like him too and Kei-senpai might be able to take him away from her.

Hanabi's reverie was interrupted by her lunch being pushed into the training hall. Her father looked in disapprovingly. Hanabi decided at that moment that she wouldn't leave that room until her father was suitably impressed.

* * *

End Chapter 3 

Sorry about the wait, I had hoped to post the story this last weekend, but couldn't get back to it. In the end I think the couple of day break helped me take a new look at it and get it polished as well as it got. I've replied to all the reviews I got from the Chapter 3 Teaser, please take a look at the reviews section for the latest review from me, Kloset Author it includes an _out-take_ from Chapter 1. I will reply to any reviews from the latest chapter in a week or so or whenever it looks like the reviews have nearly stopped.


	4. Too Much to Expect

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1. Even though I don't own Naruto, the story elements contained here in belong to me until someone who can afford a lawyer tells me otherwise.

* * *

Hinata's Story: Underneath Your Clothes 

Chapter 4: Too Much to Expect

They stopped to rest early the night after the attack. They hid a fair distance from the side of the road. Hinata had been dejected since the battle. She had tried to apologize to Naruto and Sakura for not working well with them as a team.

"Well don't worry about it too much," Sakura had replied, "you didn't do any worse than Naruto did."

"What does that mean?" Naruto had asked defensively.

"I told you two to stay with Renjiro," Sakura said. "And what happened, you chased after me. You couldn't stay away from a fight, then you had to run back to help Hinata."

"What do you mean, chase after you?" Naruto retorted, "I ran first!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

The argument had quickly deteriorated from there as Sakura began to beat Naruto. It seemed to be more playful than anything else. Naruto had looked up from the ground while Sakura was stomping on him. "Everything worked out all right, so don't worry about it," he said completely oblivious to the beating he was receiving.

"Yah," Sakura had agreed stopping her merciless onslaught.

"Just follow your gut," Naruto had said as he got back up and continued to walk toward Sukuro City.

Now that they were making camp, Hinata found herself alone with Jiraiya-sama, who had joined them immediately after the battle had finished. Hinata remembered that Naruto-kun had been very unhappy with his sensei. Jiraiya-sama's only response to Naruto's accusations had been to say that if they wanted to be chuunin then they would have to be able to work on their own.

His advice to Hinata had been simple. "Don't hesitate," he had said. "Make your decision and be prepared to live with the consequences."

"But if I make a mistake, the people I care about could be in danger," Hinata had said fearfully.

"Yes, but if you don't make any decision, they _will_ be in danger," Jiraiya had said before leaving the girl to her thoughts.

She stewed about it all day as they traveled to Sukuro city. It worried her so much that she not only didn't stare at Naruto the whole time, but hardly even noticed him.

Naruto, not being the silent type tried to engage her in conversation, but she didn't seem to notice him and when she did respond it was with short, noncommittal one syllable words. Sakura's theory, which she voiced rather loudly, was that Hinata wanted Naruto to shut up.

Hinata had actually started to agree before she realized what Sakura had said and began to deny it embarrassedly. Sakura took Hinata's difficulty refuting her as admission that she was right, while Naruto just thought it was normal for Hinata. It made her kind of cute they both thought to themselves.

In the end Naruto just figured she was nervous about the new team. After all, he had worked with Ero-Senin and Sakura before, so one new person wasn't a big deal, but Hinata had never really worked with any of them before, even though she had gone to the academy with him and Sakura. So he left her to her thoughts.

The trip concluded with their arrival at Sukuro City uneventfully after the day of the attack. The enemy was either not in position to attack again, or was too afraid. Sakura liked to think it was the latter. 'Yeah, that'll show those bozos to underestimate me because I'm a woman!' The voice inside Sakura's head raged. 'Bring'em back and I'll beat them down again.' Sakura's inner voice gave her strength and confidence. She felt strong now; confident that, unlike before she could keep up with the pace that Naruto and Sasuke had set.

Hinata had once had a voice like that; a part of her that told her she had worth. It had long ago been destroyed by her father and his constant disappointed looks and degrading comments. Hinata could not remember ever being told that she was loved by anyone. It was something that inwardly she longed for.

And since the loss of her own inner voice she had relied on Naruto's inner strength. She saw in him a kindred spirit. He was someone who was also despised and rejected, but never gave up. He believed in himself when no one else did. Hinata wanted so much to be like that. She worked tirelessly to achieve some measure of his example.

* * *

He arrived at the tower two days after the failed ambush. Scaling the wall he entered through the window, despite the fact that as a part of Lord Ketsuma Yukio's bodyguard he could have entered the Palace of Fire through the front gate. The Corridors up here were dimly lit, but that didn't slow him down or make his traversal more difficult. In fact the darkness emboldened him. 

The area above their entourage's quarters was used for storage; a stark contrast to the gaudy palace decorations for those pompous aristocrats. The shadowy figure liked it better up here. He felt out of place walking into a place like that. Scaling walls and slipping past security into the dark recesses was the way he preferred to enter such places. Enter stealthily, perform his function and leave quickly, quietly and without a trace. That was the ninja way. That was his way! Even though he was no longer associated with he hidden village of cloud, his services were just as needed; more needed perhaps.

"You're back early," a deep, commanding voice interrupted the former cloud shinobi's path through the darkness. Not only could he not sneak up on that man, but he knew that any time he detected that man's presence; it was because he was allowed to. But what else could you expect from a member of the Hakumei clan. They possessed one of the most feared blood limits in the world: the Kurogan /the Black Eye/. It was because of that fact that those murdering leaf ninja had focused on that clan and all but wiped it out. Now that they were numbered at only about a dozen no more than two or three were ever allowed to leave the village of hidden cloud at any one time. That was what made his leader, Hakumei Gyaku like him. They were both absent from their home of Kumo /the hidden village of cloud/ without leave.

Gyaku was the de facto leader of this group. Everyone simply did what he said if they didn't want to have their soul ripped right out of their body; something a master of the kurogan could do. Some day he'd show that self confidant, overbearing fool the true meaning of fear. He'd not be so confident after that!

"You shouldn't be back for another two weeks Hiroshi," the still invisible task master said calmly. "You didn't kill the Sutra brat did you?"

"No Gyaku-sama," Kyoufu Hiroshi responded simply. "The Boy some how managed to procure the assistance of a small team of Leaf Shinobi who managed to wipe out the bandits we were using."

"And you didn't kill them?" the still disembodied voice asked.

"I attempted to, but it appears I underestimated them and they broke out of the Reikon Isukumi /Soul of Paralyzing Terror/."

"And you just left?" the voice asked from a different spot.

Hiroshi turned to face the new direction and began to sweat. "You see, they were either very lucky to break out of the trance just as I got to them or shrewd enough to pretended to stay in the trance until I got close. They managed to injure me before I knew they were free."

"So you were playing with you food again," Gyaku said as he finally stepped close enough for Hiroshi to see him. Hiroshi was about to reply, but caught sight of the Hakumei's eyes, which were now jet black from his active kurogan. Whatever his response would have been Gyaku never heard it, because it was stuck in the fear master's throat.

"It shouldn't matter now. If lover-boy gets here he shouldn't be able to change anything now that it's all set in motion." Gyaku sighed. "Go get some rest; we'll work you back into the guard rotation in a day or so."

Gyaku watched Hiroshi meander through the maze of boxes in the store room they were in. He couldn't see the other missing-nin's body, but his soul stood out to his kurogan brightly. His blood limit among other things allowed him to see spiritual energy. He could see the living energies created by the souls of any living thing. Not only could he see Hiroshi's obviously scared and angry soul, but he could see the life essence of the insects crawling on the boxes, the mold on the walls and crates, and even a little bit of moss. It made traversing the darkness easier, but didn't show him everything.

Sighing to himself, Gyaku shook his head. It was really annoying. These ninja all looked at him to be their leader and refused to think for themselves. At first it had only been the idiots that had even dare suggest anything in his presence, and after he had shot down their foolishness no one with any intelligence had the courage to help plan anything. So every decision made by the band of renegade ninja that Lord Ketsuma was collecting had to be made by him.

There was an upside. Gyaku never had to be involved in training Lord Ketsuma's soldiers in ninja techniques. He didn't fear the consequences of those actions. If the Raikage ever found him, having trained ninja outside of Kumo would be the least of his problems. He would be put to death for abandoning the Hidden Cloud. Unless they decided they wanted his genes, in which case he would be locked away for the rest of his life and forced to help provide Lightning Country with kurogan wielding children.

It was dangerous to stay in lightning country, but the rewards were worth the risk. Gyaku had joined Lord Ketsuma because he had promised him the chance to get back at those murdering leaf ninja that had killed his father and older brother. So he had stayed in Plinth, the capital of Lightning Country's largest province serving Lord Ketsuma until his opportunity arrived. Now that he was in Fire Capital with Lord Ketsuma's son, he knew he would finally have that chance.

* * *

Hiroshi looked back into the darkness before leaving the store room. Some day he'd show that pompous, self-important buffoon that fear was an art. 'It's a spell that takes time and skill to weave,' he thought to himself as he promised himself that he would show that arrogant fool some day.

* * *

They hadn't stayed in Sukuro city very long. They had presented Renjiro to his father and then immediately been brushed aside. Servants had told them to be ready to leave by sundown as Lord Sukuro took his son into his private chambers. 

The ninja had left to palace to replenish supplies. It wasn't as easy in a civilian city as it was in Konoha, but the all managed well enough in just over the amount of time it would have taken at home. This had upset Naruto and he was still complaining about not having enough time to find a ramen stand as they left Sukuro City.

This time they traveled in a caravan that suited Lord Renjiro's station. Renjiro hadn't said a word to the ninja as they left and kept to himself inside his personal carriage. Naruto had tried to ask him what was going on, but he wasn't permitted in the carriage, even when he demanded in as a body guard, and Renjiro wouldn't so much as stick his head out

Even Hinata was a little upset when they finally stopped to rest the horses after riding through the night and the next day. The sun had just set when they made camp. Renjiro had been tight lipped and wouldn't answer any of Naruto's questions as they ate.

Finally after Renjiro had ignored Naruto's questions for an hour and a half, Hinata decided to ask him what was wrong.

Renjiro was about to respond when Naruto interrupted him. "Oh, I see how it is. You don't answer me, but the second a pretty girl asks you something you speak right up," Naruto said, obviously miffed.

"Shut up, he was about to tell us!" Sakura's voice rang out as she punched Naruto in the head, knocking Naruto over and stopping Renjiro's retort. No one noticed the change in the color of Hinata's cheeks

"Don't mind him," she said giving her best smile. "What were you going to say?" she asked innocently as she sat on her knees in front of him intently.

Renjiro began his story as Naruto sat back up rubbing his head...

"My father was an important advisor to the Lord of Fire when I was younger."

"Lord of Fire?" Naruto asked.

"He's the ruler of the county we live in!" Sakura yelled. "Didn't you ever pay attention in school?"

"Oh you mean Toshiro-san." Naruto replied

"Uh, yes," Renjiro replied softly. Not even his father referred to the Lord of Fire so casually, and here this ninja acted as though he had been a personal friend.

I used to spend a lot of time in Fire Capital on trips with my father when I was a child." Renjiro continued. "I became very good friends with his daughter, Keiko."

At these words Hinata's heart skipped a beat and Sakura leaned forward. Jiraiya even got interested, but decided it was too soon to know if he'd need to pull out his notebook. Naruto just yawned anticlimactically.

"Then one day while I was in the capital I was walking around with some girls that I had run into and I saw Keiko crying. I don't know what had made her cry, but it was at that moment that I realized that I would do anything to make her happy for the rest of my life."

Hinata's heart fluttered as her hands clasped each other in front of her. Sakura seamed to go dreamy eyed wishing that someone in particular would have felt that way about her. Jiraiya waited to be impressed while Naruto waited to care.

"Last year we decided that this next year I would ask her father for her hand in marriage," Renjiro continued.

"That's great!" Sakura squeaked.

"C-congratulations," Hinata said breathlessly.

Naruto laid his head into one of his hands and shook it. Jiraiya knowing that the other foot was about to drop just frowned slightly.

Tears started to form at the corners of Renjiro's eyes as he continued, "B-but my father just got my official invitation to attend Keiko's marriage to the son of one of the regional daimyo's of Lightning country." Renjiro just managed to choke out that much before the girls couldn't contain themselves any longer.

"That's terrible," Sakura exclaimed as Hinata made a sympathetic sound. "What will you do?" Sakura asked.

"I h-have to talk t-to her," Renjiro stammered out.

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe she doesn't love you?" Naruto asked simply.

Before the young lord could stammer out his rebuttal Hinata and Sakura both turned their heads and gave Naruto a glare that could have turned charcoal white. In response Naruto's complexion went whiter than Hinata's as he lifted his hands in a warding gesture. He managed to shuffle back two steps before he fell on his butt. Satisfied the two girls turned back to poor Renjiro who was trying valiantly to hold back tears.

"You don't understand," Renjiro stammered out. "We're royalty, political marriages were always something either of us might have to face, but we thought we had everything setup. Was it too much to expect that since we loved each other so much that we could spend the rest of our lives together?"

"That's t-terrible," Hinata muttered.

"So what are you going to do to fight for her?" Sakura asked excitedly while pumping her fist in the air.

"There's nothing I can do," Renjiro replied dejectedly, "not only has she agreed, but so has her father."

"But…" Hinata began.

"There's nothing we can do the stars were against us," Renjiro interrupted. "It's just my fate to be chased by silly girls that only want my name while the only woman I'll ever love is married to someone else. Why is it that as soon as I realize how wonderful something is it gets taken away from me?"

This kid needs a drink, Jiraiya thought, but before he could offer him one Naruto got to his feet. "Then why don't you keep telling your sob story to all the girls you meet, I'm sure they'll be all over you trying to console you. And maybe with all that attention you'll be able to forget about how big of a coward you are."

"Coward!" the prince stammered incredulously.

"Some men live their whole lives without ever finding someone who will love them like that," Naruto said boldly. "You had something some men only dream of having and you just throw it away when it gets too difficult for you." Naruto's yelled accusingly.

Hinata and Sakura were both too shocked for words. Renjiro wasn't. "You don't know anything about having everything you ever wanted taken away from you?" he demanded.

"Yes I do," Naruto replied quietly as he turned away from the self-pitying prince, "but complaining is for people who have already given up."

"You just don't understand what it's like to be in real pain you weak, dimwitted…Momma's boy!" Renjiro yelled after Naruto's now calmly retreating form.

Naruto didn't even look back as he calmly walked away. Something snapped inside of Hinata as Renjiro raged at Naruto-kun. If anyone understood suffering her Naruto-kun did. She couldn't stay there, so in one fluid motion she got up and began to leave in the same direction Naruto had.

Sakura felt liked the story had just been ruined. 'Some Prince Charming he is, he won't even fight for the woman he loves,' Sakura's inner voice raged within her. She got up and left as well.

In a matter of moments Jiraiya found himself alone with the poor boy. Sighing to himself he got up and sat himself down beside the pouting prince. The prince was muttering obscenities at Naruto under his breath when Jiraiya started speaking. "You know that kid is probably the biggest whiner I have ever met," Jiraiya began.

"Yah, I'll bet he complains and complains whenever something happens that he doesn't like," Renjiro muttered angrily.

"Yup, he complains about dinner, about chores, and especially mission assignments," Jiraiya continued. To which the prince only chuckled maliciously while Jiraiya took a swig from his gourd. "Yup, He always has to have the most exciting missions. He can't stand the simple stuff we do as ninja, he always wants something that will test his limits and prove how strong of a ninja he is."

"So he's a crybaby and a glory hog," Renjiro muttered.

Jiraiya continued on like he didn't hear the prince's comment. "But you know I don't think I've ever heard him complain about his parents dying the day he was born or the fact that almost everyone he meets hates him for something that he didn't do," the boy stopped grumbling an started to turn ashen as what the old man said sunk in. "I don't think he even complained when his best friend betrayed him and tried to murder him."

"W-why?" Renjiro stammered out.

Smiling Jiraiya replied, "Because he hasn't given up on those things. No when he thinks about those things he's always talking about how he's going to be the Hokage and everyone will look up to him." Renjiro was taken aback. "And he works hard at it too. I've never seen anyone work as hard as he does," Jiraiya continued. "He'll probably be the Hokage one day too. So you watch who you're insulting there boy," Jiraiya said, patting the now silent princes knee, "you may one day have to respect him as well." Standing with a grunt the old frog hermit left the boy to his thoughts.

* * *

Renjiro kept to himself for the rest of the trip. He didn't know what to say to Naruto. Was his situation even anything like the betrayal of a best friend trying to murder him? The young prince remembered what the ninja had said about men spending their whole lives without finding someone to love them. Did Naruto feel that he would be the same way? Renjiro didn't think he could talk to a man about his lost love if that man would never have a love to loose. 

While Renjiro was contemplating this, Sakura was busy plotting how she was going to get those two together. She wasn't going to let such a perfect romance end in tragedy. If Renjiro wasn't willing to fight for the woman he loved she would do what had to be done. No woman deserved to have her heart broken like that!

Hinata however found she couldn't keep her mind of Renjiro's story. She wished her Naruto-kun felt that way about her. She knew that she would do anything to make him happy. And she definitely knew what he could do that would make her happy...

But every time she thought about the blissful life she would like to spend with Naruto-kun she couldn't help but think that no matter how much she wanted it, it would never happen. She might not have quite been royalty, but her father likely would choose who she would marry, and he would never allow Naruto even if she could...

Naruto seemed oblivious to the depressing mood that seemed to envelop the caravan. He merely got miffed when no one would say much to him.

The trip didn't take much longer. They were nearly there by the end of the next day, so they made the four day trip in just under three days.

They arrived without much pomp or ceremony. They were permitted through the gates, but no one came to meet them until they got to the Palace of Fire. Everywhere they passed the city was abuzz with excitement and preparations for the ceremony.

* * *

'He made quick time' the lone shadow above the gate tower thought. Had anyone seen him, they wouldn't have found him anywhere near where he had stood when they looked back. 

'Everything is already in motion, there will be no stopping it now,' the ghostly figure thought, smiling to himself.

From his new vantage point he could see the three Konoha ninja. They were only children! They were definitely genin from the look of them. There was an unimpressive girl in the front followed by another; a Hyuuga. He grinned to himself. This would be his first opportunity to start his retribution on the murdering Hyuugas that had killed so many of his family. The patience he'd shown would finally pay off. The hour of reckoning was near.

Had the old man walking behind the girls seen the lone figure, he would have seen the murderous intent in his jet black eyes. He might even have said that they gleamed with a malignant sparkle. But, Hakumei Gyaku knew how to blend into a crowd. He was confident that no one could detect him.

* * *

Renjiro was escorted to a spacious sitting room to meet the Lord of Fire accompanied only by the four ninja assigned to protect him. The Lord of Fire obviously had bigger Priorities with guests from Lightning country. To tell the truth the formality and ceremony that would usually take place got to be a bit annoying, and Renjiro and his family had gotten close enough to the Lord of Fire's family that it was hardly necessary. They deserved a more casual and worm greeting. Renjiro was thinking these thoughts as the Lord of Fire turned and faced his direction and smiled broadly. 

"Naruto-kun, it's good to see you," The Lord of Fire boomed out jovially.

"It's good to see you too, Toshiro-ji-san," Naruto replied warmly as if it were the natural thing.

"Oh come on Naruto-kun, I don't look that old do I?" The Lord of fire responded, with an obviously fake hurt tone. "I'm not even fifty yet."

In Response to her husbands obvious annoyance his wife, Shijimi reached over and pinched his cheek. "Some things only get better with age dear," the chubby woman said. Lady Shijimi wore traditional white makeup and ceremonial layered robes that made her appear fatter than she was. She wouldn't ever be in a swimsuit calendar, but she was by no means obese.

"Every one is against me," The lord of Fire said whinily, "You'll support me won't you Renji-kun?"

Renjiro, like Sakura and Hinata, was at a complete Loss for words. They all went rigid at the sight. Fortunately no one was there to poke them, as they would have all fallen over at the slightest tap. Renjiro had never seen anyone treat the Lord of Fire so casually. And he'd never even seen his Liege Lord act this way. He found himself barely able to move and barely able to stammer out a reply. "Y-yes," he finally got out of his mouth after a slightly obvious silence.

Turning back to Naruto, the ruler of the Fire Kingdom looked at him ruefully. "Well Naruto, it looks like Jiraiya-san has trained you well… Are these two girls with you, or is one of them with you Renji-kun?"

"No Sir!" Renji replied very quickly.

"Well Naruto, it looks like you're a chip off the old block," The Lord of Fire said jovially.

"No, no, no," Naruto said defensively. "These are my teammates. They're really awesome ninjas!" Naruto said grinning.

"Ah," The ruler said knowingly. "Aren't' you the lucky one. So which of them is your girl friend?" he asked conspiratorially.

At this point Sakura was about at the end of her rope. First Naruto had to scare her by trying to get them all killed by treating the Lord of Fire without the proper respect. Then he acted like they were old drinking buddies. You can't act like that with the ruler of a country; you could have your head chopped off. She didn't know what he'd done to make the Lord of Fire think he was some kind of Mac daddy, but she wasn't going to let him act like he had gotten it on with her. She felt sorry for him, but she didn't feel _that_ sorry for him. And she _knew_ that he was going to say she was his girl friend. Well she was going to put the smack down on him if he tried that.

Naruto spoke up just as Sakura was getting ready to rumble. "No, they're just my teammates," Naruto said simply with only the slightest bit of disappointment.

"Na-ru-to!" Sakura bellowed as she started to walk toward him. She'd taken a step before what he'd said sunk in and she realized that he hadn't said what she expected. Her face suddenly became blank and started to color in embarrassment before she just as suddenly began scowling again. "We are not just your teammates, we're your friends, and don't you forget it! Right Hinata?" Sakura bellowed before she gave Naruto a light bonk on the head. Though light for her would give most normal people a concussion.

"R-right," Hinata said, now that she was finally drawn from her reverie. Hinata had frozen up when Naruto-kun had begun to address the Lord of Fire. She had just about to fall on her knees and beg for his forgiveness on Naruto-kun's behalf when she realized how her countries ruler was treating Naruto-kun. From that point her mind had just frozen. She couldn't really think anything, but she found herself in awe of her Naruto-kun and overwhelmed with curiosity about what he had done during his training mission and what kind of adventures he must have had if the Lord of Fire treated him like a friend. Then, finally now that she had spoken, the implications of the conversation hit her, specifically the suggestion about her being Naruto's girlfriend. She began to redden and placed her hands in front of her as she looked down. She lifted her head in time to see the Lord of Fire's smirk before he continued to address Naruto.

Chuckling, the Ruler replied, "It seems you're doing well."

"Yeah, I guess," Naruto replied noncommittally. The last few statements had reminded him of some of the events of the past few days that were kind of depressing.

"I'd bet you're doing better than you think you are," the Lord of fire smiled inwardly at his private joke. "So don't go acting depressed, it doesn't suit you."

Naruto smiled and said, "Thank you sir," as the Lord of fire heartily slapped him on the shoulder. Naruto gave a little oof as a little air rushed out of his lungs.

The Lord of Fire grinned broadly as he passed Naruto and walked toward the rest of his party. He never saw the look of shock on Renjiro's face as he walked right past him. The ruler was focusing on the old man behind him who had previously kept silent.

"Jiraiya-san, welcome back," he said. "It's good to see you!" The jovial ruler said before doing something that shocked Renjiro even more; he clasped the Frog Hermit's hand and pulled him into a one armed hug that ended with several slaps on the back.

To say Renjiro, Sakura, and Hinata were dumb struck again would be an impressive understatement. Each of their jaws had opened so wide that a lion tamer might have been tempted to stick his head in one of them.

Chuckling Jiraiya responded to the Lord of Fire. "It's a pleasure to be back, Toshiro-sama."

"I told you not to call me that," the now upset ruler replied. "After all you've done for me, call me Toshiro."

"You're too kind Toshiro-san," Jiraiya replied smiling. "I haven't done that much."

The Lord of Fire began leading the Frog Hermit to another room, obviously intending to find a private place to continue their discussion. The continuing banter between the two old men kept the surprised trio so confused that it threatened to give them a case of lockjaw. Sakura was the first to snap. Just after the Lord of Fire had left with Jiraiya, completely oblivious to the rest of them, Sakura spoke up.

"Alright Naruto, spill it. How did Jiraiya-sensei get on such good terms with the Lord of Fire?"

"He, helped him meet his wife," Naruto replied with a little hesitation. He was obviously hiding something.

"How?" Hinata spoke up. She had surprised herself and Sakura by being so bold.

She had surprised Naruto as well, but he was a little more concerned with his answer to think about it. Reaching back and putting one hand behind his head in an embarrassed gesture he replied: "I think he took him to a hot springs to…"

"Naruto-nii-san!" a high, slightly squeaky voice interrupted Naruto. Everyone looked toward the small door in the middle of the wall on the left of where they came in. "Naruto-nii-san!" the voice yelled again as the door was opened and a little girl peeked her head in.

The girl looking in could have been no older than seven or eight years old. She wore her jet black hair short and it seemed to bounce when she jerked her head from side to side. Naruto had seen it cut once. The procedure involved placing a bowl on the top of her head and trimming the hair that was showing very short.

"Suki-chan," Naruto yelled causing the short haired girl to look in his direction. The girl had light hazel green eyes. She wore a white kimono that restricted her leg movements, so when she ran yelling Naruto-nii-san she was forced to shuffle very quickly across the floor and was able to get the whole statement before she had fully covered half the distance between the door and Naruto.

Everyone had to wait a little bit for her to get to them. When she did, she bent down as well as she could and leaped up wrapping her arms around Naruto's neck. A second later she was hanging from Naruto's neck with her legs dangling off the ground. Her kimono kept her from wrapping her legs around him to hold herself up, so Naruto had to support her with his arms.

He wrapped his arms tightly under her shoulder blades and took a couple of steps forward, away from everyone else, and began to spin. The girl laughed gleefully as Naruto spun her around, crying, "Faster…faster Naruto-nii-san!"

Hinata had a hard time deciding whether to be jealous that some other girl was being held in Naruto-kun's arms or pleased that Naruto-kun was so good with children and would make such a good father. With Naruto-kun's stamina she was sure that he would be good at becoming a father…

Sakura was shocked as well. She had no idea that Naruto could be this good with children. Renjiro was surprised too, but not for the same reason as the two girls. No one treated the second daughter of the Lord of Fire, Hiwatari Suki that way. It just wasn't done! You could be executed faster than you could blink, and Renjiro was blinking a great deal, hoping that one of the times he opened his eyes that he wouldn't be seeing what he was seeing now.

Naruto finished spinning the girl around and gently set her on her feet. Smiling at the little girl Naruto squatted down so he was at eye level. "How are you doing Suki-chan?" Naruto asked sincerely.

Jerking suddenly as if just remembering something Suki began to lower herself down on one knee. It took a bit of effort because of her kimono but she managed it just as Hinata was bringing herself out of her blushing reverie.

Hinata watched with unfeigned interest as the young lady, now on one knee took one of Naruto-kun's hands in hers and looking into his eyes and in her most sweet and innocent voice asked, "Naruto-nii-san, will you marry me?"

Hinata went into shock. She found herself weak in the knees and began to sway around dizzily. Her mind seized up and couldn't seem to move beyond Naruto-kun and Suki-san staring into each other's eyes. She felt strange, because even though she should have been jealous she couldn't. All she could feel was a cold fear in the pit of her stomach and despite her condition she would have to be pulled away kicking and screaming to keep her from watching the response to this question.

Sakura was so stunned she completely forgot about her legs for a moment and fell on her butt and despite the stone floor she didn't even notice the pain. She was shocked by how forward this girl was being. 'What are you thinking,' the Inner Sakura raged at the girl. Sakura couldn't believe that any girl would be crazy enough to actually want to marry Naruto. Sure he was a great guy. He was kind, considerate and apparently good with kids, but that was because he still acted like a kid himself. He didn't have any sense. Naruto was rude simply because he didn't know any better. He was cute, not sexy and quite frankly not that bright. Sakura was so caught up wondering what she could possibly see in Naruto that she didn't even consider her age and why she would even want to be married that young.

It wouldn't do to say that Sutra Renjiro had fallen down due to fear. So we will simply presume that he felt it wisest to be near the ground so that when the Lord of Fire saw what was going on he would have a head start kneeling in submission to beg for his life while explaining that he had nothing to do with it.

Naruto looked into Suki-chan's eyes intently. She was looking back so earnestly it was intimidating.

"Aren't we a little young to be worrying about getting married?" Naruto asked trying to sound diplomatic.

Hinata's heart began to race in anticipation of the girls reply.

"I'm ready," Suki replied. "If you say yes we can be married tomorrow," the girl replied happily.

Hinata gasped quietly. Fortunately everyone else was a little too preoccupied to notice. Renjiro was trying to figure out what he would do with the last 24 hours of his life. Sakura couldn't believe how bold the girl was. Even she knew that you couldn't be that forward or you'd scare any boy away, even Naruto.

"Suki-chan," Naruto began patiently. "Some day you are going to meet someone a lot better than me and you're going to decide you want to spend the rest of your life with him. You don't have to be in a hurry now."

"No!" The girl shouted. "I'll never find anyone better than you!" The princess was almost ready to cry at this point.

Hinata could empathize with the girl. She didn't think she would ever find anyone as good either.

"Suki-chan, I can't marry you until…until after I become Hokage..."

"Why?" the princess interrupted him.

"If we were married before I became Hokage, everyone would think that I just became Hokage because I'd married you, and no one would believe that I could protect them."

"But I can't wait that long!" the girl announced before she latched onto him and buried her head in his neck and began to cry. "You have to promise me now."

"What's wrong Suki-hime, why don't you have time to wait?" Naruto spoke softly into the girl's ear as he wrapped his arms around her back.

"If I don't get married soon my dad will make me marry some mean man like onee-chan," the girl sobbed into Naruto's shoulder. "Even Renji-kun was nicer than that mean man daddy is making onee-chan marry."

Hinata found herself released from the spell she was under. She could almost feel the tension rush out of her. She almost lost her balance again, but before she could feel relieved her heart went out to the poor little girl. She understood the girls fear, because her father might one day force her to marry someone she didn't love just to make the Hyuuga clan more powerful.

Sakura also felt her heart going out to the little girl. She couldn't even imagine how awful it would be for someone to pick who you were going to marry without giving you any say. 'Enemies of love should be struck down,' the Inner Sakura raged.

Renjiro began to hope that he could escape this situation with his head.

Naruto gently grabbed the crying princess by the shoulders and pulled her away from him so he could look her in the eye. "I'll make sure that your dad doesn't make you marry anyone you don't want to. That's a promise, so don't you worry about getting married right away. You have plenty of time to decide."

"But how can you do that?" the princess begged on the verge of starting to cry again. "What if he makes me while you aren't here? And what if..." The girl was silenced by a finger over her lips and a soft voice shushing her, but it wasn't Naruto's.

Suki turned to see one of the girls that had come with Naruto-nii-san. She had short black hair kind of like hers, but it was long in the front and she had these pink white eyes that seemed to glow with kindness.

Seeing the girl's pain had unlocked the part of Hinata's nature that instinctively made her protect people. She had knelt down in front of the child and shushed her on instinct. "Don't worry," Hinata began. "Naruto-kun promised you that he wouldn't let your father force you to marry someone you don't love. That means he'll stop it." Hinata's absolute confidence in the young man shined through her eyes. It comforted the younger princess, but her fears were not so easily dispelled.

"But how can he do that?" the girl asked hopefully.

Somehow the girl's earnestness and her pain empowered Hinata to show her confidence, despite Naruto's presence. "He's Naruto-kun; that means that he'll find a way." Hinata said. Somehow she knew deep in her heart that he would always find a way to protect the people he cared about. She also knew that she would do anything she could to help keep this girl from being forced to marry someone she didn't love.

"A-are you sure?" the little princess asked.

She looked so vulnerable that it melted Hinata's heart. She was so touched that she didn't trust her voice so she just smiled warmly and nodded her head.

Suki's face slowly changed as she began to believe. Her eyes lit up and she began to smile as tears began to roll down her face. Then without warning she leaped forward and wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck, nearly knocking him over. 'Thank you Naruto-nii-san," she whispered in his ear.

Naruto just wrapped his arms around the child lightly and looked at Hinata. She seemed to be radiating warmth. Smiling at Naruto and the child she stood up gracefully and stepped back toward Sakura and Renjiro who had both gotten back up. For a moment Naruto thought she looked like an angel ascending back into heaven.

The moment didn't last long. Before Hinata could take the few steps back toward the other two occupants of the room, the door at the end where the Lord of Fire had exited reopened, drawing everyone's attention to it. Now the center of attention a young woman began to gracefully walk into the room. She wore a dark blue kimono with pink swirling shapes in it. Her hair was the deepest shade of black and it hung low straight behind her back. She took small steps as she entered the room followed by her bulky mother, Lady Shijimi.

* * *

Keiko was annoyed at her mother for insisting she come to this room without telling her why. Maybe if she'd have picked one of the moments that Yukio deemed to spend with her it would have been a blessing, but as it was she had a lot on her mind. She opened the door and peered in hoping that her mother hadn't decided that she and her fiancé needed to spend some more _quality time_ together. 

Seeing that he and his spooky guards weren't in the room she ventured in. That was when she saw him. She couldn't understand why Renji-kun had a look of pure terror on his face. Then without warning she found herself unable to move. She hadn't expected seeing him again to be so hard.

Renjiro froze in pure terror when he saw Keiko and her mother walk into the room. Suki-san was still in Naruto's arms. When Lady Shijimi saw them and told the Lord of Fire what had happened, he'd have their heads on platters before sunrise.

Lady Shijimi was ecstatic. She ran past the eldest of her two children, not even noticing that she almost bowled her over. She scooped Naruto up in one arm, took a few more steps and grabbed Renjiro. "How are my favorite boys?" she asked as she began to squeeze and nuzzle them.

Renjiro had forgotten how affectionate Keiko's mother was. Every time he was in this position he felt sorry for Tiger, the family's pet cat.

Naruto still hadn't gotten used to this, though he never complained as Lady Shijimi was the only woman who had ever hugged him. He wondered what it would have been like to have a mother to fuss over him like Lady Shijimi did. He was aware that most mothers weren't so asphyxiating, but Naruto allowed himself to enjoy the feeling of being loved, even if it did emphasize the fact that he'd never find a woman of his own to hold this way. Even though overall he enjoyed the experience, he did feel sorry for all of the times he'd recovered Tiger, a mission he'd had a couple of times when he was younger.

There were two secrets to being released from Lady Shijimi's bear hug of doom. The first and most effective was to hug back tightly, the second was to choke, turn blue in the face or show any other sign of imminent death due to strangulation. Naruto chose the first while Renjiro seemed to opt for the double-whammy of choking while turning blue in the face.

Lady Shijimi dropped them. Naruto was pleased that being let go of no longer involved a trip to the floor now that he had gotten taller. Renjiro didn't think much, he was concentrating on getting air back into his lungs.

"Well I'm sure those two have a lot of catching up to do," Lady Shijimi began as she stepped to Naruto's side and hooked her arm around his, "but you have to tell me all about everything that's been happening to you." Naruto gave Renjiro a nudge toward Keiko before Lady Shijimi dragged Naruto off by his arm out the door that Suki had entered through. Suki followed close behind.

"Keiko-chan, how…" Renjiro began nervously before he cut himself short. He didn't know what to say but continued to walk toward the woman he loved more than life.

"Did you come to ask how I was doing?" Keiko replied venomously.

"No… I just don't…"

"Why are you here?" Keiko asked angrily.

"Your father summoned me here to attend you…wedding," Renjiro had a hard time getting the last word out of his throat. He found he couldn't actually say it while looking at her.

"So you're just here because my father called you?" Keiko yelled. She didn't know why she was so upset; she didn't want him here in the first place.

"No," Renjiro answered quickly and somewhat angrily. "I wanted to talk to you."

"Renjiro, I'm not going to disobey my father. I can't and I won't."

"But isn't there…" Renjiro began.

"Now you've talked to me, there's nothing more to discuss!" Keiko cut him off angrily then immediately turned sharply on her heel and walked back out the door.

"I love you." Renjiro's voice was drowned out by the door slamming.

Renjiro let the hand fall to his side that he hadn't realized he'd reached out to Keiko-chan. He stood still; too empty to move. Tears fell silently, but freely down his cheek. Somehow a part of him believed that if he came he would be able to stop this travesty to love. That part had shielded him from the full brunt of the pain he felt now.

* * *

Hinata was shocked to see not just one girl throwing herself at Naruto-kun but now two. She'd wanted to hug Naruto-kun for so long she was jealous. She had wanted to be the first person to hold him! The whole thing had thrown her off so much that she hadn't known whether to follow Naruto or stay. She wanted to hear Naruto's stories about his training too! 

Then there had been the argument between Renjiro and Keiko. She could tell that they both loved each other, but felt powerless to do anything about it. Her heart went out to them again. She wanted to cry just thinking about it. Would she one day have to face the same thing as Keiko-san? Would she one day have to invite Naruto-kun to her wedding?

Sakura was stunned. First the Lord of Fire's wife had hugged Naruto and then Keiko had told Renjiro that she didn't want him here. It looked like these two needed more help than she thought. 'These two need help from the Love Doctor!' the Inner Sakura said while rolling up one of her sleeves in front of a placard that said Haruno Sakura LD.

* * *

Naruto was rubbing his head, his posterior and a few other places that still hurt. He'd told Lady Shijimi a couple of stories about his exploits before she had let him go under the auspices of needing to prepare for dinner. He had been trying to find Renjiro and the girls when he'd stepped into a rope noose that had tightened around his leg and pulled it out from under him. He'd heard the sound of two boys grunting and falling down before a bucket of rocks fell on his head. 

"You won't take Suki-sama away from me," one of the voices had yelled before they had run off.

Naruto was still muttering about the event under his breath when he ran into Renjiro. "So how did it go?" Naruto asked, suddenly cheerful again.

"How did what go?" Renjiro asked grumpily

"Your talk with Keiko-san," Naruto replied just as annoyingly.

"She told me to leave her alone and ran away from me!" Renjiro snapped at Naruto.

"Did you chase her?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Chase her? Why?" Renjiro asked scandalized.

"Sometimes girls want to be chased," Naruto replied simply.

"She said there was _nothing more to discuss_," Renjiro said the last part mockingly.

"Some girls don't know that they want to be chased," Naruto said completely unabashed.

"Thanks for the advice Dr. Love, but you don't seem to have much luck with the ten and older crowd," Renjiro said mockingly.

"You're right," Naruto said quietly, "but I'm not the one doing nothing while the girl I love is marrying someone else."

"What would you have me do?" Renjiro asked growing tired of advice from someone who knew nothing about his situation.

"I don't know," Naruto replied simply.

Renjiro sighed, he couldn't believe it. Here this boy who had probably never been kissed was telling him what to do about his lost love. Then he told him to stop doing nothing, but had no idea what to do? Renjiro was about to give this hypocritical busy body a piece of his mind when Naruto continued speaking.

"You're the one with all the experience with all of this intrigue and politics crap. I'm just a ninja, not politician."

"Well then oh wise one, what would you do where you come from?" Renjiro asked mockingly.

"I'd probably just beat the guy up and tell him to leave my girl alone."

"That won't work here, it could start a war. Besides her fiancé isn't the problem, it's her father," Renjiro explained in a voice that he thought sounded patient.

"Then I'd just beat up her father too," Naruto replied completely unapologetic about the implications.

"Her father is the Lord of Fire; I'd be executed for that!" Renjiro said shocked. He could feel a pressure on his throat already.

"Hey didn't I start this conversation by saying I didn't know anything about all of this politics crap!" Naruto said.

"Obviously!" Renjiro said lowering his had from his throat as he yelled at the brash ninja.

"Well, it looks like you have two choices," Naruto said

"What?" Renjiro asked surprised.

"Think of something or go tell your sob story to the girls in your fan club," Naruto said as he began to walk away. "If you want I'll find out when their next club meeting is for you," Naruto called back to the now frozen in place prince.

* * *

Keiko had tried to keep her walk slowly as she left Renjiro in that room, but as soon as she had slammed the door she started to speed up. She didn't know how long it had taken for her to be running through the halls at a full tilt run crying, but she had probably made a scene by the time she had gotten to her room and locked it. 

The rest of the evening had been a haze. Her mother had come and helped her get ready for dinner stating that they had very special gests that were friends of her fathers. Dinner had been a nightmare with her sitting as far from Renji-kun as possible and ignoring both him and her snob of a fiancé, Yukio while keeping herself from crying. She had excused herself as soon as it was polite to do so and ran back to her room.

Now that she was back in her room she couldn't seem to stop the tears, nor could she stay in one place. Her heart hurt so much she just couldn't seem to stay still. She wanted to scream about the terrible injustice of it all. During her contortions of grief she managed to knock over a vase, cutting her hand.

* * *

Sakura and Hinata were preparing for bed in a room joining the princess' room. They had been asked by the Lord of Fire himself to body guard his daughter until after the wedding. Then because of that duty they had been allowed to have dinner with the Lord of Fire and his family. 

Hinata remembered the event dreamily. The dinner had been a relatively small personal affair with just the Lord of Fire, his wife, two daughters, Renjiro, Jiraiya, Naruto, Keiko's fiancé and a guard and themselves. The guard had stood in the background the whole time. Suki, the Lord of Fire's youngest daughter had asked Naruto-kun to tell a story of his exploits and her father had agreed under the auspices that he told the stories better than Jiraiya. Naruto-kun had spent most of the night telling stories of his adventures with Jiraiya-sensei interrupting often. Hinata had enjoyed every second of his stories. He had told stories about his training and the last chuunin exam he was in, including his fight with the Gara of the Sand. There had been an uncomfortable silence when Sakura had yelled at him for not mentioning Sasuke's part in the adventure, but the stories had continued after a short uncomfortable silence. Hinata didn't remember how Suki-sama had ended up in Naruto-kun's lap, but she was so content listening to the stories that she didn't mind. Hinata had worried when Naruto-kun had flicked a spoonful of soup at the spooky bodyguard, but after the two of them had stared at each other for a moment nothing happened. Everyone acted like it was an accident and continued eating.

Hinata and Sakura were in their Pajamas when they heard a crash from the next room. They used the adjoining door and were in the room next to Keiko-sama in under a second, neither of them bothering to grab any weapons.

When they arrived there was no one in sight but the princess. Not even Hinata's byakugan could find anyone. Sakura was puzzled until she saw the broken vase and Keiko-sama sucking on one of her fingers.

Kneeling down to face the princess who had obviously been crying Sakura reached out her hand. "Let me see that," She said simply.

* * *

At first Keiko didn't understand why there were two girls jumping into her room from the servant's room, but in her grief-filled daze she remembered her father requesting that the two girl ninja guard her. She was to upset to care or make a fuss, but if she'd have known that they would cause here this much trouble over a broken vase she would have complained. She was about to do just that when the pink haired one asked to look at her finger. 

She wasn't too surprised to hear her make simple comments that were supposed to be comforting about how the cut wasn't deep or serious. What surprised her was when the girl started making strange shapes with her hands causing two of her fingers to glow. The girl then placed those fingers on her bleeding finger tip and wiped away the blood.

"There you go, all better," Sakura said happily.

The Princess was too shocked for words. What did this silly twit mean all better? The wound was simply going to bleed some more! "What do you mean all better?" Keiko asked incredulously. She used the thumb on the same hand to try to find the cut and open it, but she couldn't find any trace of a cut on her finger. "What? How?" Keiko asked confused.

Sakura just grinned while Hinata who had finally decided she was satisfied that there wasn't a threat explained. "Sakura-san is a medical ninja. She has to be able to heal cuts much worse than that so that other ninja can keep fighting."

Keiko simply looked stunned. She had been treated by the best doctors in the country, but she had never seen anything like this.

"Are you alright?" Sakura asked calmly.

"I'm fine, the bleeding's stopped," Keiko replied snappily.

"I mean about the whole wedding thing and Renjiro," Sakura replied calmly.

"Why wouldn't I be ok with it?" the princess snapped again.

"You've been crying," Sakura replied. "Hinata, why don't you get a warm, wet towel for Keiko-sama?" Sakura waited for Hinata to leave before she continued. "You don't want to marry that guy, so why don't you say no?"

"I'm a princess. I've always known that my father might choose someone for me to marry for political reasons?" Keiko said calmly.

"But you love Renjiro," Sakura said.

"We've both known that this could happen, I'm ok with it." Keiko lied.

"You're braver than I am," Hinata replied softly as she brought a towel.

"Well I've been prepared for this since I was a child." Keiko tried to explain.

"I've known that my father would probably choose the person I will marry to strengthen our clan, but I don't think I could accept it that easily, especially since there is someone I love as well," Hinata replied as she knelt down next to the princess.

Keiko finally noticed the dark haired ninja's eyes. They were a pinkish just barely off white color. If she remembered right, that made her a member of one of the hidden village's most important clans. The eyes were supposed to give her some special ninja ability. Keiko realized that this quiet girl might be telling the truth. Her heart suddenly went out to the white-eyed ninja. "You should tell your father before he chooses someone else." the princess suggested.

"My father would never approve of him," Hinata said simply.

"How do you know unless you ask?" Keiko said desperately. Somehow all of her pain at having lost her one chance at love had turned itself into a powerful determination to help this girl get the boy she was in love with as if some how it could make everything alright for her.

"My father constantly says bad things about him and tells me not to associate with him," Hinata said choking back a tear. "Perhaps it's better if I never tell him how I feel, then I won't have to hurt him by telling him that we can't ever be together."

Keiko's heart broke hearing the young ninja's story and her concern for the boy she loved. Suddenly the young princess burst back into tears. "Renji-kun must hate me now," Keiko began. "He must think I hate him!"

"No, he wouldn't think that," Sakura interrupted.

"It just hurts so much to see him because it reminds me of all of the things I wanted but can't have..." Keiko was now sobbing in Sakura's shoulder.

"I'm sure he understands," Sakura cooed into the weeping princess.

"Don't worry," Hinata said, "I'm sure Naruto-kun will set him straight."

"Naruto," Keiko said hopefully as she lifted her head off of Sakura's shoulder.

"I don't want to sound bad, but Naruto's never really had much experience with love," Sakura said hesitantly.

"Naruto-kun always knows what to say," Hinata said confidently.

Sakura wrinkled her brow. She didn't know exactly why Hinata was so confident in Naruto, but she didn't think it could be justified. "I don't know Hinata, the last time he just called Renjiro a coward."

"But remember how Neji-nii-san used to hate the main family," Hinata began. "After Naruto beat him he stopped hating the main family and he was even nice to me." Hinata's faith had obviously not wavered.

"Well boys are pretty strange," Sakura said. "Get them into a fight and suddenly their best buddies."

Keiko laughed unexpectedly. "There was this one time Renji-kun and …" Keiko began to relate a story about Renjiro and another young man that was now his friend. The conversation from there had drifted to boys and the strange things they did with the occasional diversion into politics.

Keiko's stories all involved Renjiro in some way, while Hinata had spoken about Naruto and Kiba and occasionally Neji. Sakura hadn't been able to share much, she told a couple of stories about Naruto which Hinata listened to with rapt attention and she even managed to tell a story about Sasuke. Hinata and Sakura learned that Naruto and Jiraiya had helped Keiko's father in some way, but she didn't know what, and that is why her whole family liked him so much. Both Sakura and Keiko learned from Hinata about just how terrible Naruto's early life had been.

They talked into the night. Keiko told the two ninja the story about how she had fallen in love with Renjiro and how much it hurt her to see him gallivanting off with all the loose girls that flocked around him. Then how he had caught her crying one time and had immediately started to ignore the other girls and tried to cheer her up. That was the day they had fallen in love.

Sakura got curious about who this boy was that Hinata liked. She thought it was either Kiba or possibly even Naruto because of how much she talked about them. But she couldn't tell for sure which one it was. Keiko had figured it out, but Sakura never thought to ask her.

Finally they left to let the princess sleep. Just before they got to the servant's quarters' door Sakura turned to the princess that she hoped she could now call a friend. "Keiko, you should ask your father about Renjiro," Sakura said.

"What about?" the princess asked puzzled.

"About canceling this marriage so you can marry him of course," Sakura responded slightly surprised.

"But it's too late now," Keiko replied sadly.

"How do you know unless you ask?" Sakura quoted the princess' advice to Hinata.

"I don't think I could," Keiko responded softly.

"If it's important to you you'll do something about it instead of just complaining," Hinata said sagely. "Naruto-kun taught me that," Hinata said before turning and walking into the servant's room followed by Sakura.

"Good night Keiko-san," both girls said before closing the door on the befuddled princess.

* * *

Naruto walked into Renjiro's room with him. "Why are you coming in here with me, your room is next door?" Renjiro asked testily. 

"Just making sure everything's all right in here before I go to bed," Naruto responded in the same tone.

"Eh," they both muttered together in annoyed tones.

Naruto was about to use the adjoining door to go to his room when there was a knock at the door. Before either of them could respond it was pulled open and a young man let himself in followed by another man wrapped in a dark cloak. The young man could best be described as lanky. He was dressed in all the regal finery he could muster; he had a pail complexion and bright blond hair that he wore greased back. The first man was the complete opposite of his companion. His body guard wore a thick black cloak that covered most of his dark complexion. What could be seen was that he was even taller than his employer and considerably thicker. To some he would have been quite imposing.

Renjiro however had no patience for it. "Oh how humble you are Lord Ketsuma, to enter like a servant," Renjiro told the man that had taken Keiko-chan away from him. "To what do I owe this honor? Did you come to take my laundry or perhaps to change the chamber pot? If so, please wait, because I haven't had the opportunity to use it yet."

Yukio couldn't believe he was being treated this way. He was the heir to the largest province in Lightning country. He didn't have to sit still and listen to some Fire Country red neck who thought he knew what nobility was mock him!

"I came here to give you an order." Yukio told the rival prince sternly.

"Really?" Renjiro interrupted. "Normally the Lord of Fire sends his own people for that if he can't come himself. What does he want?"

"If I were you I would think about the future. Now that I'm going to marry the Lord of Fire's heir I will soon be the ruler of this land."

"Well actually," Renjiro interrupted smugly, "according to the law since the Lord of Fire's oldest heir is marrying a foreigner, the next youngest becomes the heir. I guess that means Naruto here will become the next Lord of Fire," Renjiro said smugly cocking his head at Naruto when he mentioned his name. "I hope you can handle all of the responsibility along with being Hokage," the now grinning prince said turning to Naruto.

"You actually think that moronic weakling could become Hokage?" The cloaked man yelled out unable to contain himself. "There's no way a big mouthed liar like him could ever be respected by the other nations as Hokage!"

Renjiro replied before his ninja companion could. "I wouldn't expect some mere body guard that has to hide behind a cloak to be able to comprehend, let alone perceive the strength of on of Konoha's finest combat ninjas!" Renjiro made sure that his voice was filled with disdain.

"Why you sl…" the cloaked ninja began to curse at the prince as he lunged forward in a rage. But suddenly he stopped himself and stared and Naruto who had just leaned back against the wall with his hands behind his head.

"It doesn't seem like your future Hokage here is to keen on protecting you," Yukio said chuckling snidely. "You might want start doing as I tell you if you know what's good for you."

"Well that's just it," Renjiro said. "According to my friend here I don't seem to be very smart or know what's good for me," Renjiro replied gesturing toward Naruto again.

"I'm ordering you to leave Fire Capital and return home at once!" Yukio yelled infuriated that such an insignificant boy had the audacity to disobey him.

"But a girl's wedding day is the happiest day of her life, and Keiko and I have been friends since we were children. I couldn't possibly not be here to celebrate with her." Renjiro lied through his teeth knowing that even though the other prince knew full well it was a lie, he couldn't dispute it.

Ketsuma Yukio had never in his life had his orders so flagrantly disregarded. "Why you insignificant insect," Yukio began as yelling at the insignificant retainer that had dared to disobey him. The prince's hands hooked into claws as he stomped toward Renjiro intent on strangling him. His charge was halted by the cloaked figures grip on his collar, but his rant could not be stopped so easily. "If you don't leave now, I will personally see to it that you are no longer breathing by the time of her first anniversary!"

Before the foreign prince could continue his threats he was unceremoniously dragged out of the room by his bodyguard.

* * *

Yukio had barely waited for the door to Renjiro's room to be closed before he began to yell at his subordinate. "How dare you treat me this way? If my father hadn't taken you and your men in you would all still be hiding from Hunter-Ninjas." 

"Had I not stopped you that Leaf Shinobi would have killed you," the man in the cloak responded coolly.

"How can you say that?" Yukio demanded, "You saw him lean against the wall just like I did. He was practically inviting us to kill that gutter trash."

"He leaned back against the wall to cover the motion of drawing out two handfuls of shuriken stars." The body guard replied calmly again despite his employer's increasing agitation.

"That's what I keep _you_ around for," the prince said coldly. "Aren't you Hakumei supposed to be unrivaled in speed? You should have been able to kill them both in a blink."

"Our natural speed is difficult, but not impossible to match. The boy's hand speed was quite impressive and if that boy is in any way related to the man he resembles he may actually be able to challenge me in speed."

"Are you scared?" Yukio asked mockingly

"On the contrary, I'm beginning to look forward to killing him, but doing so now would only hamper the plan. The Sukuro boy can't do anything to stop the wedding now, so there is no great need to kill him yet."

"How dare you tell me how to execute my plan?" Yukio demanded. "I am your master, it is I who tell you how we will execute this plan and if I decide to change the plan then you had best obey!"

Hakumei Gyaku stopped in front of the young lord Ketsuma stopping the young lord dead in his tracks. Gyaku's two inches in superior height seemed to make him tower over the boy. "Understand this _boy_, and understand it well," Gyaku said in his deepest, most menacing voice. "I agreed to follow your father for as long as his desires match my own and no longer. I do not and will not ever answer to you!"

Yukio was dumbstruck with terror. Gyaku's eyes never changed color, but somehow knowing what those eyes could do, but not seeing it made the encounter all the more terrifying. He would never forgive the ninja for this insolence. When he returned to his own country he would tell his father of this arrogant ninja's disobedience and then one day when he was no longer needed he would be disposed of. Yes, Yukio would enjoy disposing of both Sukuro Renjiro and Hakumei Gyaku.

After educating his _master_ about the true state of affairs Gyaku stepped aside and waited for the boy to digest the information and continue moving. It only took a few moments before Yukio began stomping away. Gyaku was beginning to anticipate this mission being far too enjoyable to let some spoiled brat interfere with it.

* * *

Renjiro waited for the two intruders to get far enough down the hall not to hear him before he turned to Naruto. "What do you think you were doing?" Renjiro yelled at him. 

"Other than protecting you?" Naruto asked angrily, finally lowering his hands from behind his head.

"How exactly were you going to protect me lying back against the wall? You were practically inviting both of them to rip my head off."

"They didn't, did they?" Naruto pointed out as he slipped the shuriken that he'd removed from his hip back into the holster.

"Yeah, but you couldn't have…." Renjiro paused as he finally noticed what Naruto was doing. "When did you?" He asked questioningly.

Smirking Naruto answered the prince's hesitant question. "That's why I'm a world class ninja and you are a coward who is going to let the woman he loves go without a fight to and arrogant prick." Naruto turned and walked into his room, which unlike Hinata and Sakura's was as big as Renjiro's.

* * *

End Chapter 4 

I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter updated. If you haven't been paying attention to my profile page, I have been keeping updates on my progress and will continue to do so. Unfortunately on 3/24 I found out that all work schedules were going to be cut back by an hour and a half until 4/1 (April Fools day). Then the next day (3/25) I found out that my entire project at work was going to be laid off on April Fools Day. (Kind of a bad joke you know.) We were offered the chance to move to different projects, but all but one of them involved a couple dollars an hour pay cut and instead of doing technical work, we would be doing menial work.

The Story gets long, but after a fair amount of scrambling I managed to get one of the 12 positions on the only other technical project on our site. It also came with a 2 dollar an hour raise. Whoohoo!

What this meant as far as Hinata's Story goes is that it got delayed for about 2 weeks while I tried to keep my job or get a new one. Now that I've got steady work again, I should be able to continue working on the story, but my new position will likely not allow me to write while I am at work, something I of course never did before ;)

I will still be trying to release a chapter at least every 30 days.

Before I continue I also need to mention the Kurogan. The idea was partially inspired by a few things including two stories here on I had intended to use a different name, but kuro was the only word for black I could find that sounded cool with the ending gan. Seems those authors and I agreed on that. Before anyone cries foul the blood limit is radically different in this story that it was in the others I read, it's just that the name was the coolest of all the options I could give it. I will go over it more in my reply to reviews for this chapter.

* * *

Stay Tuned for Hinata's Story: Underneath Your Clothes Chapter 5: Not too much to ask 

Some cowards grow a backbone while others prove they never had one, Renjiro gets ready to rumble and Naruto opens up a can of kick butt!


	5. Not Too Much to Ask

Hinata's Story: Underneath Your Clothes

Ch 5: Not too much to ask

* * *

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1, and feel free to introduce anyone who charged you to read this story to the back of a woodshed.

* * *

Hanabi was panting heavily while keeping an eye on her opponent. Her cousin Neji, it turned out was far stronger than her. They had been sparring for hours now and he barely showed any sign of fatigue while she was covered in a fine sheen of sweat. Her father occasionally trained her for periods even longer than this, but those sessions had never been as strenuous as this one. 

"Neji," her father's voice rang out gruffly.

Hanabi had been training with her cousin for several days now while her father waited for the new training facility to be built. Hanabi remembered waking up from her sleep on the hard wood floor of the family training hall where she had fallen asleep exhausted after that first night of her new training. It had been the scratching sound of the door sliding open that had awoken her. She had lifted her head off the hard floor to see her father's sandals just in front of her face. Other girls might have been embarrassed about people seeing them right after they had just woken up. Hanabi knew her body stunk because of her intense training and thanks to her last mission she hadn't been able to shower in two days. But Hanabi had simply looked up at her father with a smirk on her face. She knew he would be impressed with her.

Without a word being said Hanabi got up and walked toward the nearest wall. Once there, without missing a step she casually began to walk up the wall then walked along the ceiling. Her tangled hair hanging down toward the floor was the only clue that would have told an observer that she was on the ceiling and upside down. She moved as if she had been walking on ceilings all her life.

Once she had nearly walked the entire length of the ceiling she broke into a run and ran down the wall and halfway back across the training area before she broke into cartwheels and back flips. She continued her acrobatics the rest of the way across the room, up the wall and along the ceiling. Three quarters of the way across the ceiling again Hanabi stopped hanging from the ceiling by the palms of her hands and walking on her hands continued the rest of the way across the ceiling and down the wall apparently oblivious to the pull of gravity. Hanabi walked on her hands until she was almost back to her stoic father, who she could tell was having difficulty hiding his smile.

"Impressive," Hiashi had said when his daughter had righted herself with a flip. "Most Impressive, but what else should I expect from you?" Hiashi continued his complementing. "You will be a powerful leader of the clan some day Hanabi..."

Hanabi was then released from the training hall and allowed to bathe and eat. Since that time after her missions were over her cousin Neji would escort her to a secluded place near the Hyuuga mansion where her father supervised her training. He had told them that they would continue to train there until the construction of the new training hall was complete.

Hanabi was quite pleased with herself, but was drawn from her reverie by her father's instructions to Neji.

"Don't let her rest too much!"

Neji obeyed, and promptly began his onslaught against his youngest cousin again. Hanabi-sama he knew was no match for him. He knew that not even her older sister Hinata-sama was capable of matching him in skill or power. He didn't have to fight with all of his strength, so he was no where near as tired as his cousin and now that she was slowing down he was using even less energy than before keeping Hanabi fighting at her maximum. All in all it gave him plenty of time to consider the meaning of pain.

The young Jounin had lived in fear of the Hyuuga cursed seal for most of his life, despite the fact that it had never been used on him before. That is, hadn't until now. A few nights ago he had experienced pain like he had never felt before. Pain that he knew could kill him. But Hiashi hadn't killed him even though Neji wouldn't have blamed him if he had.

Hiashi had summoned him into his sitting room and asked him how he had beaten Hinata in their first Chuunin Exam. Neji didn't know how Hiashi had found out about what he had done, but he knew it was time to face the music. Facing his fear Neji began by telling his uncle about how he had attempted to force Hinata to give up, but had been surprised when after only the slightest bit of encouragement from the peanut gallery she had refused to give up. He then explained about his strategy to close the tenketsu in her arms thereby rendering her powerless. Neji had been mortified when his uncle had actually complemented him on the strategy, but he continued telling him about how Hinata had refused to give up even when she had found out what he had done to her and he had been forced to start to hurt her. Hiashi had even sounded forgiving when he had said he understood. Neji had almost lost the nerve to finish the story, but after apologizing profusely for forgetting himself and his duty he continued on and told Hinata's father how he had near fatally injured her and when she not only wouldn't stay down, but had pittied him he had attempted to murder her.

Neji had finished his story with his face to the ground bowing low in front of the man whose daughter he had nearly murdered. He began to apologize and beg for forgiveness when he heard Hiashi's growl and suddenly his mind was on fire with pain. At first he couldn't think about anything else but the pain. His entire world was pain. He began to feel as if he were outside his own body when the pain stopped just as suddenly as it had started.

Neji didn't remember collapsing, but he had found himself sprawled out on the floor when he had finally completely come back to his senses. He still remembered the menacing sound of his uncle's voice when he had told him that he had best not ever fail in his responsibility to protect the heiress of the Hyuuga clan again. So now at his uncle's instructions Neji was teaching Hanabi the very same technique he had used to defeat her older sister.

* * *

Hiashi watched his daughter train. Her skills were good, but she was getting sloppy as she got tired. When he was done training her she would not only be able to outlast any chuunin, but she would be able continue to fight effectively when she did get tired. Hiashi didn't know how they were going to do to increase his other child's stamina or why they even thought it would help, but by the time the chuunin exam finals come around he knew that Hanabi would be easily be able to outlast Hinata. 

Not that it even mattered. Stamina was important when fighting multiple opponents and Hanabi would need stamina if she was going to survive life as a ninja, but in a one on one fight it was skill and techniques like the one her cousin was teaching her that would determine the outcome. No amount of stamina will allow someone to keep fighting with all of the tenketsus closed and their inner coils damaged.

Perhaps he would teach her how to act tired and sloppy to confuse her opponent and allow her to perform this technique unnoticed more easily. When people see what they expect they seldom question what they see, even when they are presented with proof that what they expected was incorrect.

It was a stroke of brilliance to punish Neji this way. He would never suspect the real reason why he was training Hanabi. Neji believed he was acting in penance for his attempt at Hiashi's oldest child, but in truth he was specifically training Hanabi to defeat that very same child. Neji was a jewel, one of the most talented Hyuuga Hiashi had ever seen and he was going to be sure that he continued to train the boy. He is a valuable asset to the Hyuuga clan, but Hanabi is going to be the heir and she will have to prove that she is the strongest. Hiashi was going to be absolutely certain that Hanabi would become a chuunin on her first attempt of her first year as a ninja. He was also going to see to it that she thoroughly defeat her sister; proving without question that she is the strongest.

* * *

"Don't you think it's too much to expect my father to change everything now?" Keiko asked her two body guards. They had seemed intent on taking her to see her father since they woke up this morning and were currently herding her to her father's audience chambers. 

"No! Of course not…" Sakura began.

"Yes," Hinata said simply and quietly, but somehow her quiet melancholy voice drowned out Sakura's. Sakura was about to begin her rebuttal when Hinata continued. "But it's not too much to ask."

Hinata's sage advice was like a life line to Keiko. Her heart drank it in and her soul finally began to hope. The princess knew that because of the political ramifications of her engagement to that lightning prick there may be nothing that her father could do now. But her heart grasped onto the idea that if she asked that maybe he could do something. She knew that if she asked that would be all that she could do, but her heart clung onto this last chance as if it were her only source of air. The princess began to walk with purpose in her step and with every step she thought of how she would ask her father to alter the engagement. Hinata and Sakura fell behind Keiko-san and had to quicken their stride to keep up as the princess began to think of how she would plead to her father.

Sakura was upset. She had no idea that Hinata was such a drama queen! 'Yes, but it's not too much to ask!' Sakura grumbled to herself. She could have said, 'no, everything will turn out all right!' That's what a girl with a broken heart needs to hear, not some depressing don't get your hopes up speech!

'Well at least she's moving on her own now,' Sakura mussed, 'so it can't have been too bad.' Sakura was becoming quite pleased with herself. She found that she liked this whole love doctor thing. She'd have to offer it as a service when she opened her own practice. Maybe she could even start a Dear Sakura column in the Konoha Chronicles Sunday Edition!

Sakura was still lost in her own plans she began to notice Keiko's foot steps getting both louder and farther away. She looked up and saw Hinata's back shrinking as she started to chase the princess. It took a moment before Sakura started running after them.

'Yes!' the inner Sakura cheered as it stood in front of her _Haruno Sakura LD_ placard. 'Love Patient #1 is finally getting in the spirit. It looks like were going to be able to save this ones love life!'

Sakura was grinning wider than the Cheshire Cat by the time arrived at their destination. Sakura had wanted to barge right in to see the Lord of Fire and set him straight on this whole _Engagement Debacle_, but Keiko, the ever dutiful and polite daughter that she was, stopped at the door and requested that they be admitted. If it hadn't been for the serious look on Keiko's face Sakura would have bashed in the doorman and then the door when she found out that they would have to wait. Sakura didn't care if they were deliberating over a case of life and death; this was an issue of love! Life and Death would just have to wait!

Just next to the door where the young ladies were waiting, some more patiently than others, stood a life size marble statue of a man. The man depicted in the statue only wore a short robe that hung loosely from one shoulder and showed most of his chest and stomach before it stopped just above his knees. Like most all statues of its type the musculature was sculpted in exquisite detail. Keiko knew the statue was one of her father's favorites, because of the position of the hands which were held out in front of its body. One hand was curled into a fist and buried into the open palm of the other hand which had its fingers extended in a straight line at a 45 degree angle over the fist.

This gesture, her father had always told her, meant peace through strength. He said that true peace could only be achieved through unwavering strength of purpose. People had to be able to live by and be ruled by just principles and only strength and the courage to live and defend those principles brought true peace. Any other peace was peace through fear. And that is the same as captivity.

But Keiko wasn't the one paying attention to the statue, it was Hinata. And when the three girls were left alone in the hall she finally spoke up. "Ano…Do b-boys really have s-stomachs like that?"

Her question drew both of the other girls out of their own reveries. Hinata was staring at the statue with her hands drawn close over her chest, finger tips tapping together slightly. She seemed to have trouble looking at the other two girls and oscillated between looking at the statue and at her feet. Despite that Sakura and Keiko could both tell she was blushing.

"N-never m…" Hinata began.

"S-some do," Keiko replied slightly embarrassed about this line of thought. She remembered seeing the soft bumps in Renji-kun's stomach. He had them all the places the statue did, they were nowhere near as big, but the memory of her _accidental_ discovery still drove her wild. She hoped no one would ask her about it.

"Oh…" Hinata began again.

"Yes, but most aren't that ripped," Sakura began to explain in her best professor voice. Physical therapy was an important part of ninja-medicine after all!

"R-ripped?" Hinata asked questioningly.

"You usually have to train specifically to look like this," Sakura said as she began to walk toward the statue. "You see most people train for some type of activity, usually some sport or profession, line ninja work for example. And their muscles don't get quite as big or have grooves quite this severe between them." Sakura continued to lecture as she lazily moved her finger over the statue's exposed stomach to accent her lecture.

Sakura didn't seem to notice the princess who had now demurely placed her hand over her mouth to hide her reddening cheeks. She did, however notice Hinata's cheeks which seemed to have gotten as red as they could go. Hinata appeared to be trying to stare directly at the ground, but seemed to have trouble preventing herself from stealing glances at the statue.

"You aren't thinking about anyone in particular are you?" Sakura asked in her most conspiratorial voice as the wheels in her head picked up speed. 'Love Patient #1 is doing well, now it's time to start on love patient #2,' Sakura thought to herself. 'But first we'll have to find out who the lucky boy is,' the Inner Sakura said as she put on a double brimmed hat and stuck a pipe in her mouth.

Sakura didn't have long to complain about her inner voice's sudden interest in cosplay before here reverie was interrupted by Hinata's stuttered attempts at a denial. "Well I know _Kiba_ isn't _quite_ that ripped," Sakura drawled out, "but he's got a really _firm_ stomach."

The fire country princess had apparently lived a little more sheltered life that Sakura, because she was completely unprepared for this particular shift in the conversation. She was completely speechless. Her cheeks were positively glowing. And her hand was pressed so firmly over her mouth that if she didn't let go soon she might never be able to kiss a boy again!

Sakura had gotten cold enough that Hinata wasn't quite so speechless however. In fact her curiosity was getting the better of her. She hadn't thought that Sakura was that kind of girl… "How do you…?" Hinata asked quietly and unsteadily.

"Well…I'm a medical ninja," Sakura said caught completely off guard by that question. "Part of my training involved giving physicals," Sakura continued, completely sure she didn't like were this was going.

"What kind of physical?" Hinata asked breathlessly uncertain if she herself wanted to know the answer.

"You don't mean the turn your head and…?" Keiko's face was completely ashen behind her hand now.

Fortunately for Sakura she was saved by the bell this time, or more correctly the doorman who returned to inform them that they could now be admitted. Sakura didn't wait a second before she ushered her two companions into the audience chamber. After all love waits for no woman right?

* * *

Renjiro had been getting sicker and sicker by the moment since he finished breakfast. Renjiro would never suggest that the food in the Palace of Fire wasn't good; it was the best in the country. Renjiro was quite sure it would have been delicious had he been able to taste it. Besides the Head cooks wife was a matronly woman who swung a mean spoon and had no compunction against using it on minor noble's sons when they needed it. 

Renjiro's emotions had been a fluctuating, oscillating mess since he had gotten up this morning. He couldn't seem to make any sense of the swirling maelstrom of emotions that's only constant seemed to be the pain they caused in his stomach. The prince tried to push everything out of his mind as he focused on his preparations. He gave himself a grim look in the mirror before he checked the creases in his clothes for umpteenth time.

"So, you are going to fight for her," Naruto's voice came from behind the primping prince.

Renjiro hadn't heard him come in and was more than a little annoyed at the intrusion. "Oh, I thought you said you didn't understand all this politics stuff," the prince said bitingly.

"I don't," Naruto replied easily, "but I recognize the look in your eyes."

"What look?" Renjiro asked quickly. He had been trained not to give away his emotions on his face since he was a child. The ability to hide your emotions was vital in politics. Your opponents couldn't be allowed to see you fears or your intentions. He was in bad shape is some ninja with no political training could read his emotions.

"The look of someone determined not to loose," Naruto replied. "You've had the look of a kicked dog since we left Sukuro City. It's good to see the Renjiro I met in the forest again."

Not knowing what to say at that, Renjiro decided to stick with irritation. "Was there a reason you interrupted me?" the young lord asked with a little less bite than before.

"Yah," Naruto said casually. "Some guy came to say that it was time for us to go see Toshiro-ji-san."

Renjiro still had a hard time dealing with how casually Naruto spoke about the Lord of Fire. But it did remind him about something important. "Naruto this is my fight, I expect you to stay out of it," Renjiro said forcefully. "Don't speak unless spoken too and say as little as possible. You said yourself that you don't understand politics, so I need you to stay out of it. Can you do that?"

"Sure," Naruto said frowning slightly.

* * *

The audience chamber they were admitted into was immense. The vaulted ceiling was easily over three stories high and was supported by a forest of stone pillars. The room was lit by the nearly floor to ceiling windows on two sides. One could easily forget that they were inside while they were in this room. 

The doorman announced Renjiro's presence by yelling loudly into the room leaving Naruto's ears ringing. Naruto and Renjiro began walking down the narrow carped leading to the thrones on the other side of the enormous room as the doorman began to swing the iron double doors closed behind them. They had walled three quarters of the way across the room before the Lord of Fire bellowed out his friendly greeting.

"Renji-kun!" the Lord of Fire yelled jovially. "It's good to see you. I trust Naruto-kun has been taking good care of you." The lord of fire gradually decreased the volume of his voice as the two boys approached where he sat.

The Fire Throne was made of solid gold, padded with red velvet and garnished with rubies. When the light from the windows hit it just right it made the throne and the Lord of Fire's own Red and gold ceremonial robes appear to be made of liquid fire.

"What could I possibly need to be protected from in you home my lord?" Renjiro asked rhetorically before he bowed low to his liege lord.

Naruto's jerked upright in the middle of his bow when he heard Renjiro's remark. "What do you…" Naruto asked incredulously before he was stopped by the most vicious glare he had ever seen on Renjiro's face. 'My Fight,' Renjiro mouthed to him before becoming all smiles again and turning back to the Lord of Fire.

"Well fine, see if I save you from any more cloud pricks," Naruto muttered quietly under his breath. Disgusted he leaned back against one of the stone pillars and crossed his arms across his chest moodily. He hated all that political garbage about pretending things didn't happen even though everybody knew that they did. If it hadn't been for that then those cloud punks would never have been able to get away with trying to steal Hinata.

* * *

Ketsuma Yukio was pleased with himself for having the foresight to keep track of that gutter trash Sukuro boy's actions. There was no way he was going to allow that back-wood prince to meet with the Lord of Fire alone no matter what Gyaku said. As soon as he'd heard about it Yukio had grabbed one of his tame ninja and left to interrupt it. 

Threaten him? Attack him in his own room? Ketsuma Yukio would never do something so unrefined as that. What proof did that slandering coward have? Just the testimony of some low class ninja that was obviously in league with him. Yukio hadn't gone anywhere near that liar, Renjiro's room last night and he had dozens of servants and body guards to attest to that very fact. When Yukio was done decrying this outrage, he'd see to it that the annoying Sutra-brat was sent back home where he couldn't interfere with the plans of his betters.

The doorman hadn't wanted to let them through, even when Yukio had demanded entrance as the Lord of Fire's son-in-law. The bald man had been completely calm when he'd told them that the Lord of Fire was busy and couldn't see them. And he'd remained calm until Yukio had simply barged past him and pushed the doors open himself. Jinsha had silenced him easily enough however. He didn't leave a mark on the guard, but the man would probably never forget the feel of his bladed claws caressing his cheek as they slid underneath his chin.

Then entered unheralded and began to walk toward the throne. Yukio grinned to himself. Everything was going according to plan. He'd teach that insignificant underling to _lie_ about him!

* * *

Naruto was the first to hear footsteps approaching. Renji and Toshiro-ji-san had just finished their pleasantries and were about to get to the point of their audience. Naruto recognized the scrawny blond guy in front. He was the cloud prick from last night. He was traveling with a different body guard this time. This one wore a dark scraggy cloak over a grey chest plate with shoulder plates and black and silver trim. Underneath the hood of his cloak he was wearing a cloth mask that covered his whole face and had angular blue markings where his eyes and mouth were. The most notable feature in Naruto's mind took him a minute to see. Underneath the Cloak Naruto was able to make out that the ninja was wearing very large metal gauntlets with blades along the fingers. Naruto wasn't going to shake hands with this guy anytime soon. 

"Ah, Yukio-san, what an unexpected pleasure!" the Lord of Fire yelled out jovially. Renjiro would not have been pleased by any interruption, and especially not this one. But he smiled and bore it just like he knew he had to.

"Thank you Toshiro-sama," Yukio replied grinning widely.

"You remember Renjiro-san?" the Lord of Fire asked his soon to be son-in-law.

"Ah yes he joined us for dinner last night while his ninja friend told us those tall tales," the cloud prince said grinning. "We haven't had the opportunity to speak yet."

"What…?" Naruto began to shout before Renjiro glared at him again. Huffing to himself, Naruto leaned back against the pillar again clearly unhappy.

Satsu Jinsha watched his counterpart's antics. The ninja boy was clearly out of his depth here. The cloaked ninja didn't know what Gyaku saw in the kid, but he clearly wasn't powerful enough to get in the way of their plans.

"Well Renjiro-san had something important to speak to me about," the fire kingdom's ruler informed the cloud prince. "What was it you wished to speak to me about, Renjiro-san?" the ruler asked as he turned to face his vassal.

"Actually I'd like to speak to you about it in private," Renjiro replied simply.

"Surely it's not something about our young prince from the Kingdom of Lightning is it?" the Lord of Fire asked before Yukio could say anything.

"No, it's about your daughter my lord," Renjiro replied just as quickly.

Yukio didn't know what to do. Things weren't going the way he anticipated. Thinking quickly Yukio realized what the fool must be trying. If Renjiro could suggest that the Lord of Fire's daughter had been dishonored or was unworthy than he be expected to let the engagement slide and the powers that be would find another way to cement the peace less advantageous to him. But not if he played it right Yukio thought his grin returning for a moment.

"If you've defiled my fiancé…?" Yukio yelled out, but was interrupted by the sudden jerk of the young nobleman's back and the slow turn of his head toward the prince from Lightning country.

There was an ominous moment of silence as Renjiro turned the rest of his body to face his hated rival. Finally he allowed himself to show all of his anger and hatred toward the prince. His eyes almost glowed with murderous intent. "If you ever question Keiko-sama's virtue in front of me again, I'll emasculate you and strangle you with your own manhood." Renjiro's threat came through clenched teeth and even took Yukio's cloaked bodyguard aback.

It took a moment for anyone to respond. "How dare you…!" Yukio began

"You'll have to excuse Renjiro-san," the Lord of Fire interrupted the outraged prince. "He's been friends with Keiko-chan since they were both children. I would expect no less from him than to defend her honor so boldly. Perhaps you should leave us while we discuss this matter privately."

"No, I insist on being here to hear whatever slander this man has against my fiancé," Yukio said boldly.

"Insist?" the Lord of fire asked, clearly unhappy.

"Keiko-san is not here to defend herself, and I will not allow her to be slandered without someone to defend her honor in front of her father!" Yukio said loudly.

"Very well," the Lord of Fire sighed out still not very happy. "What do you have to tell us about Keiko-chan?" he asked Renjiro.

Renjiro didn't want to plead his case in front of that Lightning Country scum-bag. He knew that now that he was here his chances of success had dropped significantly. But he also knew that he would not get another chance, so he prepared to make is case.

"My Lord, Keiko-chan and I have been in love for some time now…" Renjiro began.

"What? You say such a thing without Keiko-san here to defend herself?" Yukio yelled out but was stopped when he saw the Lord of Fire raise his hand to silence him. He was not pleased, but knew that he would have to be silent for now.

"We had planned for me to ask for her hand on her eighteenth birthday," Renjiro continued.

"Why do you tell me this now?" the Lord of Fire asked.

"I have not been privy to the talks with the Lightning Country so I cannot tell you what you should do," Renjiro began.

"That's right you haven't!" Yukio yelled again before being silenced by the Lord of Fire's hand.

"But I would do anything for your daughter's hand and the privilege of being able to spend the rest of my life making her happy," Renjiro replied bowing his head.

"Perhaps you'd best make her happy by leaving her alone," Yukio spoke up again.

"You've both come and spoken to me about this," the Fire Lord began, ignoring Yukio's last statement. "But what am I supposed to do, have the two of you fight for her hand in a duel?"

"Sure," Yukio yelled out, "why not?"

Everyone present looked at the Lightning country prince as if he'd grown another head. The Lord of Fire clearly hadn't meant to suggest that a duel would be an acceptable option.

"I'm always up for a bit of excitement," Yukio said as if to explain himself. "And if a duel is the only way to win your daughters hand, then I'm all for it."

"Are you sure you want to duel over this Yukio-san?" the Lord of Fire asked hesitantly.

Smiling as if Christmas had come early Yukio replied without hesitation. "Yes, but there will be no cheating," he said while turning to face the blond ninja that was still resting against the pillar. "The first person to get caught using a ninja forfeits."

"Renjiro-san?" the Fire Lord said questioningly, hoping to find that one of them had at least a shred of reason left in them.

"My Lord, I said I'd do anything for your daughter and I meant it," Renjiro replied. "Those terms are acceptable to me."

"Well then, all that's left is to determine the weapons," Yukio said happily before the Lord of fire could say anything. "Personally I've always had a taste for knives."

"Well since you are issuing the challenge, Renjiro will choose the weapon," the Lord of Fire replied.

Yukio wasn't pleased that he was considered the one issuing the challenge, but it didn't matter. Once this duel was over, Sutra Renjiro would be dead and the Kingdom of Fire would be his. And once he had that eventually the Kingdom of Lightning would follow. And once he ruled the two most powerful countries in the world, the rest of the world would soon bow to him.

"Well I'm a bare knuckles kind of guy," Renjiro replied.

"What, someone of my standing can't be seen fighting like a barbarian!" Yukio yelled back incredulously.

"The love of a woman should be fought for with heart, not with steel," Renjiro replied.

"But fighting to the death bare handed is so…"

"You won't be fighting to the death," Naruto chimed in, speaking a full sentence for the first time since he'd entered the chamber. "You'll be fighting to the last man standing; winner by knockout."

"Naruto-kun!" the Fire Lord exclaimed

"Don't worry," Naruto said standing up straight, giving the Lord of Fire a thumbs up. "The one that loves your daughter the most will be the winner." Naruto's grin was contagious. Renjiro shared it and even the Lord of Fire had to stop himself from smiling.

Yukio was grinning for a somewhat different reason. "When will this duel be held?" he asked.

"That is up to you," the Lord of Fire said resigned.

"Excellent, then we will fight at sunrise tomorrow. My subordinates will find a spot and inform you where it will be." And with that Ketsuma Yukio turned on his heel and left the way he had came, his cloaked bodyguard following behind.

"Well, that went well," Naruto said after the two had left.

* * *

Yukio was quite pleased with himself as he returned to his chambers. He'd managed to find a way to both ensure his claim to the Lord of Fire's daughter and eliminate that infuriating Renjiro boy. He knew Gyaku would be mad, but he could let the traitor be mad as long as he still followed orders. 

The Lightning Prince had barely gotten through the door to the sitting room in his chambers when it was slammed violently behind him and he suddenly found himself face to face with a man with completely jet black eyes. Then without warning the glaring face that was almost touching his own jerked back a foot and a half and began to yell at him.

"I told you that the Sutra brat was too late to do anything!" Gyaku yelled furiously at his benefactor's son, his eyes finally reverting back to their normal color. "You should have just let him speak to the Lord of Fire, he couldn't have done anything!"

While he had been prepared to face his insubordinate underling, Gyaku's display had been more than even Ketsuma Yukio could ignore and the young lord had found himself flinching back from the angry ninja. But it hadn't taken long for Yukio to recover and by the time the ninja could finish his tirade the prince was laughing at him.

Using the ninja's surprise at being laughed at Yukio began to lecture his subordinate. "If I hadn't have gone then I wouldn't have been able to find a way to both guarantee my claim to this pathetic country and dispose of that arrogant Sutra boy."

Suddenly it was Gyaku who was laughing at the prince. "Do you really think you can kill that Sutra boy with your bare hands? For once that loudmouthed liar was right, the one that loves the girl the most will win. That backwater nobleman's son will beat you down."

"How could you possibly know about the fight or what that lying leaf ninja said?" Yukio asked his surprise evident in his voice.

"Have you forgotten who I am?" Gyaku asked, his eyes flashing back to the color of midnight for a moment. "Did you think when I found you were gone, I wouldn't look for you. I can see every inch of this castle. I _watched_ you making a fool out of yourself in front of the Lord of Fire!"

"Well that's not important," Yukio said waving the ninja's comment aside as he walked toward a couch. "Have you forgotten who I am?" the prince asked as menacingly as he could before sitting down. "I have no intention of fighting that boy."

"Than why did you make the challenge?" Jinsha, who had been quiet up until now asked.

"Don't any of you understand anything?" Yukio asked tiredly. "No one in my position would ever risk himself in a fight, that's what I have all of you for."

"Then why did you specifically specify that using ninja was forbidden?" Gyaku asked angrily.

"That's the beauty of the whole situation," Yukio said grinning. "If someone as insignificant as that fool Renjiro were to break his word to someone as important as me and cheat, he'll be thoroughly punished. But if I break my word or cheat against that fool, he'll be punished for slandering me." Yukio couldn't contain his laughter while Gyaku glared daggers at him. "You are ninja? You can use an illusion to appear to be me can't you?"

"Yes," Gyaku said through clenched teeth.

"Then there shouldn't be a problem," Yukio said dismissively. "I need one of you to find a suitable spot for this fight and notify the Lord of Fire. You may go now."

Gyaku could tolerate the dismissal. He expected to be treated like that by the people he worked for. It didn't bother him. He could even tolerate working for an idiot as long as that idiot didn't get in his way. But Lord Ketsuma's idiot son was not only jeopardizing his father's plans, but Gyaku's revenge. He'd better get a chance to kill some of those murdering leaf ninja if he was going to have to put up with this fool!

* * *

"Renjiro, You Idiot!" Keiko yelled as she barged into one of the fire palace's stables startling a couple of the stable hands. 

Keiko had found out about the duel from her mother around noon. She had been looking for her father, whom her mother had told her was inspecting the area where Renji-kun and that Cloud prick were going to fight over her! She had stormed out of the room immediately, intent on giving Renjiro a piece of her mind.

It had taken her nearly an hour of fruitless searching before she decided to stop combing the palace and utilize the talents of the two ninja that had been following her. It had only taken Hinata a few minutes of searching to find him.

Despite the fact that only Hinata knew where they were going the two leaf kunoichi had a hard time keeping up with the impatient princess. She had to wait for her two body guards to catch up to tell her which stable Renjiro was in, but before her two body guards could stop Keiko started moving again. She pushed open the large wooden double doors to the stable and shouted before she even looked in.

A couple of stable hands near the door dropped what they were holding. A young woman in the loft dropped a bale of hay on the man below her. Completely ignoring them Keiko zeroed in on her target and stomped toward him. Renjiro was standing in front of a straw dummy held up by a pole. The top of its head seemed to resemble Yukio's hair style. Stomping toward him, and completely oblivious to the stares of the stable hands, Keiko began her rant.

"You fool, you're ruining everything!" the irate princess yelled as she finally got within speaking distance. "I refuse to be the prize of some back-alley boxing match." The princess was now leaning forward and gesturing frantically.

Sakura who had run in behind the princess couldn't contain herself. "But he's fighting for you! It's romantic. I wish…"

"Romantic, to be treated like an object!" Keiko yelled back at Sakura. "And you," she yelled turning back to face the original object of her consternation. "What were you thinking?"

"But I…" Renjiro began shakily before he was silenced by another scream from the woman he loved.

"Did it ever occur to you that I might actually want to get married?"

"To that prick?" Renjiro and Naruto both yelled out in shock

"He has his good points," Keiko said smoothly if perhaps a little uncertainly.

"Name One," Renjiro and Naruto demanded in unison.

"His…" Keiko began, but paused trying to think of one. "He...Once he….."

"You can't lie to me Keiko-chan, I've known you too long," Renjiro said softly. "Your father told us that you had talked to him," the young lover continued as he took a step closer to the woman he adored.

"But you could get killed," Keiko said bursting into tears as she lunged forward and wrapper her hands around him.

"It's just a fist fight, it's not to the death," he spoke softly into her ear.

"Don't worry. The one that loves you the most will win this fight," Naruto said boldly as he gave the sobbing princess a thumbs up and a broad grin.

"Yeah!" Sakura agreed loudly and began to shake her fist in the air. 'That's what a girl needs to hear,' Sakura thought.

Hinata found herself feeling uncomfortable talking about this sort of thing in front of Naruto. Blushing she looked away from the princess who was still in Renjiro's arms and placed her hands in front of her chest. Steeling the occasional glance at Naruto, she remained silent throughout the whole exchange.

"But this isn't some fairy tail children's story," Keiko began as she pulled back from Renjiro's embrace. "Love doesn't always triumph, just because."

"It _will_ this time," Renjiro replied softly, "I promise."

"But Ketsuma-san isn't going to play fair, he's going to try and cheat," Keiko said grasping Renji-kun's shirt sleeves and looking desperately into his eyes.

"I won't be _playing_," Renjiro replied cockily.

"He's going to try and kill you," Keiko said forcefully. She gripped his shirt so tightly that she almost ripped it.

"That's what he'll be there for," Renjiro said gesturing toward Naruto with his chin. "We won't let him cheat and no one is going to die tomorrow," Renjiro said trying to comfort his princess. "Everything will be all right, I Promise," he said as he squeezed her to his chest briefly, but Keiko wouldn't let go.

They stood their like that for several moments before Keiko finally released her Renji-kun and took a step back. Slowly turning toward Naruto she spoke again. "If anything happens to Renji-kun, I will never forgive you," she warned before turning to walk away.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure everything turns out all right," Naruto said loudly, drowning out the sound of the princess trying to stifle her tears as she left.

Sakura and Hinata followed the princess without a word and almost as suddenly as they had appeared the girls were gone leaving Naruto and Renjiro alone with the stable hands again. They stood there for a moment as everything sunk in before Naruto called the love struck prince back to the dummy.

"This is the guy that's trying to take her away from you, are you going to let him do that?" Naruto asked loudly.

"No!" Renji yelled as he punched the straw dummy in the face.

"Is that all you've got…."

* * *

Keiko spent all the rest of that day in her chambers crying with two ninja trying to comfort her. Hinata tried to convince her that if Naruto-kun said he would take care of it Renjiro would be fine, but Keiko knew that the shy girl was biased. In the end both girls had promised the princess that they'd make sure that the cloud S.O.B. didn't cheat and didn't hurt Renjiro. So she had allowed herself to appear mollified and had cried herself to sleep silently after they had left. 

So now she found herself standing outside in the damp predawn cold. The grass was damp with dew making her feet wet. She felt she owed it to Renji-kun to be strong. She'd been doing her best not to cry since she had left her room. She shivered not only from the cold air that turned her breath into a cloudy mist.

She stood on a beautiful green hill between two of the stone buildings that made up the palace. Behind her was one of the side entrances to the palace and below her was the small grass area where two men would soon be beating each other to death over her. Beyond that was a forest. Her father standing beside her with his friend the old ninja did nothing to sooth her nervousness. Not even the pleasant smell of the woods or the pleasant chirping of the birds soothed her; not with the knowledge that the man she loved might soon be dead hanging over her heart.

The doors to the buildings where the boys were preparing had been removed and replaced with hanging curtains that reached all the way to the ground. The princess watched them, intently waiting for any sign of the day's combatants emerging. She ignored the sounds of the small crowd of spectators that had begun to form, both hoping and fearing that they indicated that the two princes would soon be emerging.

The blond cloud prince was the first to exit. He was followed by his second, his tall dark body guard who was still wearing his ratty cloak. The prince was dressed in the simplest clothing she'd ever seen him in, but she could tell that he was still wearing clothes that he felt fit his station. His black leather boots nearly came up to his knees and were shined to perfection. His brown leather pants were tight, but his white silk shirt was loose. Keiko didn't know what to make of it. Normally when she saw him he seemed slimy, but this morning he seemed to dripping with dreadfulness. The presence he exuded terrified her and it was all the princess could do to keep from bursting into tears at the sight of him.

* * *

Renjiro had known that he wouldn't be able to eat when he had woken up before the sun that morning. Despite that Naruto had managed to force him to eat two small bowls of rice before the fight to make sure he had enough strength to fight. Then they had gone to the appointed place and gotten ready. Some stretches and a few punches and kicks against a straw filled bag to review proper form were all the worm up they did. 

Naruto had told him that the first attack a ninja always used was against the mind. So they began their psychological warfare. It amounted to having Naruto peek out the curtain to make sure that they waited to come out until after the stuck up cloud prince did so they could make him wait. Renjiro wondered if all the waiting wasn't affecting him more that it would that punk Yukio.

Finally Naruto announced that the cloud prince was coming out. He had needed Naruto to physically restrain him from running out to start pummeling the stuck up lightning jerk. Now that the opponent was on the field Naruto finally decided to start his pep talk about how Renjiro was going to be able to walk over this guy and to remember what he was fighting for and to most importantly to just let him have it.

After Naruto finished with the speech he'd slapped together he finally let Renjiro out to face the prince, who he said should now be finished stewing.

The air was cold outside and Renjiro was unable to suppress a shiver as he stepped into it. Naruto had provided Renjiro with some baggy but very sturdy black pants, which he now wore with a cloth belt wrapped around his waist three times and some cloth wraps on his feet. But Naruto had convinced him to not wear a shirt. "You have a better physique that that cloud pansy, so if you show it off he'll know that you're stronger than him." More psychological warfare Naruto had claimed at first, but he also said Keiko would like it.

Renjiro was mostly embarrassed as he took his place on the field followed by Naruto who acted as his second. But the second he saw his opponent his embarrassment seemed to melt away as nervousness settled in the base of his stomach. He seemed to get more nervous with every step until he heard a sighing sound to his left and looked on top of the hill and saw her. Seeing Keiko-chan he fortified himself with the words Naruto had said about loosing her and finished walking toward his opponent with a grim resolve.

There was a brief staring match as they stopped and faced each other. After a few seconds Naruto locked eyes with the cloud prince's bodyguard and tilted his head toward the hill everyone was watching from. After the guard grinned and nodded they both walked away from the fighters and climbed the hill to stand with the other spectators. Through all of that they never completely took their eyes off of each other until they were both on the hill and satisfied the other would be unable to interfere. They were both wrong.

The Lord of fire then said a few words no one paid any attention to and a silk handkerchief fluttered down from the top of the hill and landed unnoticed two thirds of the way down the hill.

Rather than suddenly rush each other the two combatants stood immobile as if oblivious to the piece of silk or anything else around them. They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity to Keiko's worried heart.

Renjiro's opponent was the first to move. He sauntered gracefully forward. He hunched forward and raised his arms into a halfway defensive stance. Renjiro couldn't shake the image of a stalking jungle cat.

"You should have known better than to defy you betters," Renjiro heard his rival say. Somehow he found it difficult to focus on him. "I've finally got you right where I've wanted you. I'm not going to let you walk out of here…"

Keiko was panicking. That Lightning scum bag was going to hit her Renji-kun and he didn't even have his hands up to fight back.

"Do you really think he's going to be good to Keiko?" Naruto yelled out to the entranced prince who didn't seem to notice his enemy's fist cocked back over his head. "Are you going to let him…?"

Drawn back to reality Renjiro finally noticed the hay-maker that was about to be sent his way. Enraged by the thought of how Yukio might treat Keiko-chan he ignored the incoming blow and threw a punch for all he was worth.

Renjiro connected just before his opponents blow knocked him to the ground. Renjiro was surprised. His foe not only appeared unfazed by the exchange of blows, but stepped back and let him stand back up.

"I warned you!" His antagonist's scream was the only warning Renjiro received before being on the receiving end of a barrage of vicious blows. Knocked back by the rapid punches Renjiro began to realize how hopeless his situation was. He heard yelling, but was unable to make it out. 'It was probably that idiot Naruto,' Renjiro thought, 'He doesn't know when it's over.'

"I told you I wouldn't let you leave this place alive," Renjiro heard his adversary tell him. He stood helpless as he watched his opponent's hand grab for his throat. It seemed like it was in slow motion. Renjiro closed his eyes waiting for the end to come. But instead he heard the sound of two objects imbedding themselves in the grass in front of him.

Renjiro opened his eyes to see his opponent scrambling back away from him. He was confused for a split second before a girl wearing a jacket landed in front him. He had to shake his head clear of the cobwebs before he remembered who she was.

"What is the meaning of this?" Gyaku yelled in the Lord of Fire's ear.

Hinata appeared completely oblivious to the bodyguard's angry voice. Bending her knees to absorb her landing, Hinata sprung toward Renjiro's hapless opponent as soon as her downward momentum was stopped. Her foe barely had enough time to avoid her deadly palm strike.

"Your ninja have clearly interfered," Gyaku continued yelling.

"Hinata what are you…?" Sakura yelled before she stopped and bit her lip.

Throughout the yelling Hinata didn't let up. When her palm strike hit nothing but air she allowed her body to continue around in a circle. She bent her forward knee and whipped her other leg out and around in an attempt to sweep her adversaries legs out from under him.

Her foe jumped back over her leg and rolled across one shoulder back toward where Renjiro stood transfixed by shock. He came back up from his roll facing Hinata just in time to see her charging back at him with a palm strike aimed straight for his nose. Desperately lunging backward he hit the ground and rolled backward this time.

"This fight is over, call her off or I'll…" Gyaku yelled out, but stopped himself when he saw Sakura's body flying through the air toward the curtain that led to the dressing room he had come out of.

Back below the hill Renjiro had jumped to the side to avoid his adversary who took another jump back after he came up from his backward roll. Hinata continued to charge unrelentingly and when she got close she sent her left hand toward her enemy's shoulder forcing him to dodge to her inside, back toward the hill and away from where Renjiro had jumped to.

Finally seeing his chance, Hinata's opponent dodged to the inside of her palm strike and swung a dizzying punch toward the wisp of a girl's head. Without so much as a blink Hinata intercepted the blow with her forearm and sent her left arm back at her adversary in a chakra filled slap to his kidney.

The blow sent spasms down the man's leg before it collapsed under him along with the henge /illusion/ he was using. The gasps from the crowd on the hill were drowned out by Sakura's sudden yell. "Look what I found!" Sakura cried out as she came through the curtain dragging a struggling Ketsuma Yukio out by his neck. She stood there with a pleased look on her face and her arms locked around the Cloud Prince's neck like a professional wrestler.

Hinata didn't look away from her opponent, but with the byakugan she didn't have to. The fear user was dressed differently than when she'd last saw him. His armor was gone and he no longer looked the part of an old samurai. Now he looked every bit the part of a ninja, complete with cloud hitai-ate /forehead protector/.

"What is the meaning of this?" the illusionist Kyoufu Hiroshi demanded from the ground. "You can't trick us with an illusion you leaf wench!"

"What are you talking about, I'm the real Lord Ketsuma Yukio you traitor," the boy Sakura held in a headlock yelled at the ninja.

"How dare you accuse me of cheating you little…?" Hiroshi yelled with as much indignation as he could muster before Sakura's prisoner interrupted.

"Shut up you idiot and get this hairy ninja slut off of…!" Yukio yelled out before his voice was drowned out by Sakura's thunderously loud scream.

"What?" Sakura bellowed at the top of her lungs. Her cry sounded more like the roar of a lion than a woman. It was terrifyingly loud, but somehow it was drowned out by the short silence that followed. Not even the birds dared to make a sound

Before Yukio could discover the tender mercies of a woman scorned Sakura was forced to jump away from him as the final member of his bodyguard swooped down from the top of the building. Unable to completely get away in time one of Jinsha's clawed hands cut her cheek.

Gyaku's eyes suddenly turned jet black and a shadowy figure of himself seemed to extend out of his body at impossible speeds and wrap its arms around the princess. A moment later his body was jerked along the path the shadow had taken. Before anyone realized what was going on he had his arms around the princess and had thrown a large smoke bomb onto the ground.

"Which way did he go?" Sakura yelled when the smoke cleared and the creepy eyed ninja was nowhere to be seen.

"That way!" one of Naruto's shadow clones yelled from the roof before it disappeared. It had been pointing over the rooftops into the forest.

"Let's go!" Naruto yelled before he ran down the hill toward his teammates. With a cheer from the Inner Sakura she turned to run ahead. She didn't make it two strides before she had to jump back to keep from hitting the ninja that had stayed behind.

The golden eyed ninja, Kyoufu Hiroshi, enjoyed the look of surprise on the girl ninja's face as she jumped back away from him. Surprise was one step away from fear, and he enjoyed being feared. He may not have been from the Doushi clan, that used hallucinogens and drugs as weapons, but he knew he was fear's one and only true master.

As a boy he'd always been the one that was afraid. Spiders, bugs, snakes, and lizards had all terrified him. Even the girls laughed at his fear of heights. He had always been looked down on by everyone when he was younger. Everyone told him that a crybaby, scaredy cat like him could never be a ninja. Everyone had laughed at him except his mother.

When she died he had hated himself for needing someone so badly. He swore that he would never need someone to stop his fear again. Instead he would be the one that everyone feared. To that end he used the basics of genjutsu that he'd been taught to create his first fear jutsu. Fear would no longer be his enemy, but it would be his tool, his weapon, his ally.

And ever since he'd used that first jutsu to frighten children, he had been hooked on the feelings of power it gave him. By the time he'd graduated from the academy, even his teachers feared him. Remembering his days frightening people in the academy and the look of surprise on all of these child ninja's faces, Hiroshi couldn't help himself. He laughed insanely in anticipation of these three's looks of terror.

"I'm afraid you won't be going anywhere," the fear master said still chuckling. The surprise appearance and the laughter were all a part of the spell he was weaving; the Full Reikon Isukumi /Soul of Paralyzing Terror/. He was proud of that jutsu; it was his artistic masterpiece. And like all true art it had to be skillfully crafted. And it was as only as powerful as the effort the caster put into creating it. They had escaped from the simple painting he'd created for them before, but this time he would sculpt his ultimate masterpiece. "I wasn't able to use my power before and I've been getting a little frustrated waiting to hear your screams," he chuckled out before a loud gust of wind drowned out the sound of his laughter.

Sakura gritted her teeth. Somehow she could feel an almost palpable darkness emanating from the cloud ninja. The only light she could see was coming from his almost glowing gold eyes. Even the sun felt dimmed by the crushing darkness.

Hinata didn't dare to look down as she felt something brush against her legs, nor could she scratch the back her neck despite feeling the itchy feeling of bugs walking on it. Looking at Sakura, it appeared that shivering was the only motion her teammate could make until she reached up and felt the gouge in her cheek.

"Hinata," she latched onto the sound of his voice like a life line. "Can you take care of this guy?" Hinata could hear the concern in his approaching voice and it gave her power.

"Yes," she said warmly before all traces of kindness left her appearance. She fixed her opponent with a firm look and refocused the chakra in her eyes accenting the veins around her now completely white eyes.

"Let's go Sakura-chan," Naruto yelled excitedly as he bound past Hinata. "Catch up to us when you're done Hinata!"

"Not so fast!" Hiroshi yelled trying to move in front of the fleeing ninja. He stopped when Hinata's guttural roar announced her charge.

Hinata thrust her left palm toward the enemy ninja so her left arm would be between her enemy and her teammates. Remembering the way the female ninja was able to easily turn her motion into spins the fear master stepped back away from Hinata, making sure to stay within striking distance on her right side. He timed a punch to hit her when she would be the most off balance trying to turn to face him. He didn't anticipate the young Hyuuga stepping through with her right foot and sending her left foot around in a wide crescent kick at his chest.

Hinata's foot connected, but not before the golden eyed ninja's fist found its mark on her shoulder knocking her down. Hiroshi rubbed his shoulder momentarily as he jumped away from Hinata who had wasted no time springing back to her feet.

Hiroshi formed five quick seals as Hinata began to charge him. "Katsugan Isukumi no Jutsu/Piercing Eye of Paralyzing Terror/" Hiroshi yelled as he leaned forward to stare straight into the approaching ninja's eyes. Hinata stopped her charge with a jolt as she relived all of the most terrifying experiences of her life.

Katsugan Isukumi is a contest of wills. With it Hiroshi forced his victims to not only relive their most terrifying memories, but it also forced them to live through the most terrible things they could imagine. If their will was not strong enough to overcome his, the terror would destroy them. If they were strong they might end up in a coma, but if not they would die. Sometimes his victim's heart would explode, sometimes it would just stop other times their lungs would be paralyzed and they would die of asphyxiation. The master of fear didn't know which he enjoyed watching the most.

Barely able to perceive the outside world Hinata was reliving the most terrible moments of her life. She found herself on the ground with her father yelling at her. Somehow at the same time she was watching Naruto asking Sakura out on a date. And Neji was telling her to quit, because she could never become stronger. She stood at the mouth of an alley watching her own villagers beating Naruto while she was too scared to do anything to help. And even worse she saw Naruto go through all of the most terrible things she had ever imagined could happen to him while he was away while she felt the brand of the Hyuuga cursed seal being burned inter her forehead. Then she saw Hiroshi's samurai sword swinging down toward Naruto's head. Finally she saw what she feared most, what haunted her nightmares, Naruto's back as he left her behind.

"No!" Hinata yelled as she restarted her charge. "I will catch up!" she yelled as she threw a fist surrounded in a swirling cloud of chakra at her tormentor sending him plummeting into the wall of the palace. Hinata screamed like a beast as she charged the ninja that was currently sliding out of the imprint his body had made in the stone.

Hiroshi was so shocked that the girl's blow caught him flat footed. Only the strongest of wills could overpower his Katsugan Isukumi. He'd even killed one of his teachers with it. It took a ninja on the level of Hakumei Gyaku to defeat this technique. She hadn't done it as easily as Gyaku did, but it should have been impossible for a child like her. He was so stunned that he barely managed to jump out of the way of Hinata's jump kick.

When Hinata found that her kick had missed its target she used her extended leg to shove off the wall toward where he had dodged to. Hiroshi barely avoided Hinata's chakra enhanced fist. He had to jerk his foot away at the last second as she punched the ground causing a small explosion. He then watched in shock as the white eyed ninja used the punch to perform a _fistspring_ and land on her feet.

Kyoufu Hiroshi had never seen someone change their fighting style so much so suddenly. Hinata's movements had gone from graceful and deceptively gentle to smooth, but violently powerful in an instant. Where before she would have sent a swift hand slap toward her opponent; now as often as not she sent her whole body into ferocious punches that eploded with chakra.

The cloud ninja had to be constantly leaping back to escape each of Hinata's barrage of attacks. He was trying to buy time for Hinata to tire or relent so he could get farther away from her. She didn't tire or let up until she had managed to back him into a corner.

Finally able to create more space between them, Hiroshi used all of it he could get and backed right into the wall. Once he saw the Leaf Ninja wasn't going to rush him immediately, he grinned and bit both of his thumbs hard enough to draw blood and immediately began to use them to write on both of his palms. In one he wrote the symbol for fear and the other for terror.

Hinata realized her mistake when she saw the cloud ninja clap his hands together to form the tiger seal and began making seals in quick succession. Forming hand seals as fast as he could Hiroshi barely finished before he had to dodge a punch that dented the wall and sent rock chips flying. Ignoring the scratches to his face, the cloud ninja looked into the fierce eyes of his opponent and yelled "Katsugan Isukumi no Jutsu/Piercing Eye of Paralyzing Terror/" The jutsu only held Hinata for a second, but a second was all he needed. "Kyoufu Shinfuuin/Terror Mind-Seal/" the master of fear yelled as he slapped one of his palms on Hinata's forehead.

Fear gripped Hinata and she jumped back. Fear of a seal on her forehead was something she had lived with for sometime. She wore her Hitai-ate around her neck so it didn't cover her forehead. All Hyuuga Main Family members kept their foreheads bare to show that they didn't have a seal. She wanted to run to find a mirror to see what he'd done to her, but she didn't dare.

"What did you do to me?" she screamed as she finally backed against another wall and curled up into a ball. Reflexively she covered the blood red seal that had formed on her forehead as if by covering it she could negate its affects.

Hiroshi found that he enjoyed seeing the looks of terror on young girls best; the younger the better. Men always seemed to resemble little girls when truly terrified, but the look just suited girls best. Now after their prolonged battle Hiroshi found he enjoyed seeing Hinata's terror even better. And the Bright Red Symbol for "Coward" was the best touch. The Symbol didn't do much for the seal. Most of the work was one by the hundreds of seals forming a circle around the symbol with small tendrils following some of the main chakra pathways into the brain. It was a work of art!

Hiroshi remembered the first person he'd ever put that seal on. It was the ultimate irony; despite his reputation as a coward early in life Hiroshi was known as the _man without fear _when he became a chuunin, and it was true! As a genin he'd stalked his biggest tormentor for months. Meticulously learning his likes, his dislikes and most importantly his fears, Hiroshi created a fear-jutsu tailored just for him. Hiroshi could have killed him with it, but that would be too good for him. Instead he'd burned that seal into his skull while he was prone from his fear. When Hiroshi released the jutsu, his tormentor had become the coward he had always been.

There was a similar seal over Hiroshi's heart with the symbol for Terror. It linked him to his victims and gave them all of his terror leaving him fearless. As an added bonus it allowed him to see their fears. It was beautiful, and over time he'd improved it causing it to increase the potency so now the victim experienced many times more fear than he had ever felt in his life.

"I've just revealed you for the coward you really are," Hiroshi laughed at her as he approached casually. He stopped when he was standing over her and placed his hands on his hips; the perverted smirk he wore on his face showing how much he enjoyed the sight of the terrified girl huddled in front of him.

The master of fear grinned even wider as he drew one leg back like a soccer player and kicked the huddled girl in the head knocking her on her side. Then he proceeded to kick and stomp on the prone girl. He laughed as she to cried out.

Most of the spectators that were still present had never seen something as terrible as this. A grown man beating a defenseless teenage girl. Except that she was far from defenseless and they all new it and knew that they could do nothing to help. Torn between his desire to help and his knowledge that he could do nothing the Lord of Fire turned to Jiraiya who was still standing next to him watching seriously. Tugging on his friend's sleeve the lord of fire began to whisper a suggestion that he help the girl, before Jiraiya gestured for him to stop. "Wait," Jiraiya said mouthed silently, "just watch."

Renjiro didn't notice this exchange and if he had, it probably wouldn't have changed his mind. Moving as quickly as he could stealthily he crept up on the evil ninja intent on punching him in the back of the head with everything he had.

Fear may have been this particular cloud ninja's preferred weapon in combat, but a life spent as a ninja had not left him without other resources. He heard the prince's approach long before he arrived. Just as he got close enough Hiroshi turned and kicked the young lord in the stomach doubling him over.

"You're anxious to die," the self proclaimed master of fear taunted the prince as he turned back to kicking the terrified ninja on the ground. "I'll get to you next. Why don't you wait your turn? After all I did tell you that I wouldn't let you walk away from here!"

Laughing in anticipation of what he'd do to the helpless prince Hiroshi failed to notice when Hinata stopped screaming. He didn't notice that the young ninja's body was now barely jerking with the impact of his kicks. And most embarrassingly he didn't notice that same helpless prince stand back up and hauled back and punched him for everything he was worth.

The blow was a _slobber knocker_ that nearly knocked him over. Shocked and outraged Hiroshi stomped his foot back on the ground regaining his balance. With murderous intent glinting in his yellow eyes Hiroshi prepared to beat the foolish prince. But before he could throw his first blow an arm swung out beneath him knocking him onto the ground. Renjiro didn't waste a second before he stepped forward and began to kick and stomp on the ninja.

"How do you like…" Renjiro began to say before the cloud ninja swung out one of his arms and swept the prince's legs out from under him much the same way Hinata had just done to him. Just like he was trained Hiroshi planted his hands on the ground and launched himself into the air and away from the ninja and the prince.

Bending at his waist in the air he landed on his feet just in time to see Hinata had managed to stand back. One hand was clutching the side he'd been kicking and her knees were shaking and about to give out under her. Grinning, Hiroshi could tell that whatever backbone the girl had managed to grow was withering away.

Before the girl could fall back on her backside the master of fear ran forward and began to punch her relentlessly. Unable to block the individual blows Hinata crossed her arms in front of her and ducked her head behind them much like a boxer pressed against the ropes.

Hiroshi laughed as he skillfully keeping his opponent from falling with his punches by pushing her up into the wall behind her. "Did you really think that a coward like you could fight someone like me!" he began to taunt his victim. "I'm the master of Fear, it was only a matter of time before I found your weakness and now you're going to die!"

It wasn't Hiroshi's fault that he didn't notice Hinata's instinctual defense this time. One the ground a person's body rolls back and forth a lot when it's kicked, but the way he was punching Hinata into the wall her body barely moved at all. So he when she started to rock back and forth less and less it was nearly imperceptible. Further he couldn't see chakra so he had no way of seeing when it started to pour out of each of her tenketsu.

In Konoha training area 7 there is a large grass filled circular impression the genin that train there like to use for one on one sparring matches. They don't know how it got there or that just over a year ago the hole was just dirt. Hinata had dug the hole with her practice to master her families ultimate defense, the Kaiten /divination whirl/. She had practiced the move until it had become instinctual. So even in her current condition chakra began to pour out of her body to soften the blows she received.

So the only warning the cloud ninja got of Hinata's impending counterattack was the gut wrenching scream that came out of her lungs as she threw a vicious punch surrounded by a cloud of chakra at the ninja's jaw. The blow sent the fear user skidding halfway across the field.

Just like before, the second after she had knocked the cloud ninja away the uncontrollable fear came back. Fighting against knees that wanted to buckle with fear under her, Hinata tried desperately to remember what it was that had allowed her to fight.

Hiroshi was getting sore from the repeated blows he had received from his supposedly defeated opponent. He had never seen anyone fight that seal. There had been a few people that had fought back in desperation, but the look of terror never left their eyes when they did like it did with this girl. Their movements had stayed weak and sloppy, but this girl in her moments of clarity managed to move with proper form and nearly all of her power. He determined he would have to watch her carefully and finish her quickly if he intended to escape.

Finally Hinata realized what she had been doing both times that she had been able to fight back. Still barely able to stand on her feet Hinata began to perform the seals for her byakugan.

Hiroshi could see the grim look on Hinata's face as she began to perform seals with her hand. The look on her face and her hand seals didn't concern him however, because he could see her body trembling in fear barely able to hold her up. The fear in her eyes told him this wasn't one of her moments of clarity. She was finally succumbing to desperation.

Hinata managed to open her byakugan before falling to one knee. The cloud ninja was still walking casually back toward her. Examining her own chakra pathways she found no evidence of the seal on them. That meant that the seal had to be acting on the only chakra pathways she couldn't see; the ones in her head.

Hinata had taught herself the Hyuuga Divination Whirl: Kaiten. When it came time to master control of the tenketsu in her head, she had needed some help from a few of the books in the Hyuuga library that told her where the tenketsu should be. But even after than she had to experiment with slips of paper to find their exact placement. Placing the slips on her head she had attempted to blow them off. She couldn't do it until she found the exact place on her head where the tenketsu she had covered was.

The mind-seal had two major weaknesses. The first was its dependence on the matching seal on the caster's chest. The second was also its greatest strength. The seal was an intelligent seal. It traced its way down the chakra pathways in the brain until it found the nervous centers that controlled fear and stored the images the victim most feared. Consequentially the seal was never quite finished and stable. This meant that its affect could be countered by anyone who could tap into the chakra pathways that the seal was growing down.

Realizing that she would be unable to tell which of the chakra pathways were affected she began to blow chakra out all of the tenketsu in her head. The affects was spectacular. Suddenly the fear that gripped her so totally was pushed back to much more manageable levels. Hinata's hair was began to be lifted up of her head and began to flap around in the chakra wind she was generating around her head. Focusing on what had always given her strength she stood up.

Hiroshi's confident smirk slipped for a moment before he covered it with a laugh and a grin. "No one has ever been able to push back the Kyoufu Shinfuuin before, what gives you so much strength?" the cloud ninja asked with morbid curiosity.

"He does," Hinata said simply.

"He must be _good_," Hiroshi replied sarcastically.

"He is," Hinata replied simply, completely missing the subtext of the other ninja's statement. Fortifying herself Hinata charged her opponent before he could say anything else, but not before he could perform five hand-seals.

"Katsugan Isukumi," Hiroshi yelled at the charging girl as he committed himself to a full body punch. This time the hypnotic jutsu had no affect on the girl, something else that had never happened to him before. His punch connected full force into the young leaf ninja's head, just before her chakra filled palm strike landed over his heart.

Unlike the cloud ninja's strike Hinata's Jyuuken /Gentle Fist/ strike didn't depend on the force of the blow. Consequentially even though Hinata's blow was late, both ninja felt the full impact of the other's blow and were knocked back from each other.

They were both slow standing back up. Hiroshi was slowed down by the damage that the last blow had done to his heart. He stopped on his hands and knees to hack up some blood before he managed to stand all the way up.

Hinata was slowed down, because she had lost concentration and the fear had come back. For some reason it was slightly less powerful than before, but she was unable to stand up again until she began to push chakra back through her tenketsus to fight the seal on her forehead.

Now back on his feet Hiroshi tried to stare down the little girl that somehow managed to oppose him, but he couldn't stop another coughing fit. Wiping the blood from his lip when it was over the fear ninja laughed at the glaring girl. "Excellent, you have controlled your fear," Hiroshi said in a scratchy deep voice, not fully recovered from his coughing fit. "But unfortunately this fight was over the second you chose to face me." The cloud ninja laughed maniacally.

It was his early study into fear jutsus that had led him to create this jutsu. He quickly realized that if he could use genjutsu to paralyze someone with fear, he could also use a genjutsu on himself to remove his own fear.

He had used that jutsu throughout most of his genin career. He would use it on himself anytime he entered battle to remove his fear. He had no longer needed it once he had created the shinfuuin, so he altered it to create his Katsugan Isukumi. And even after he had mastered that technique he continued to experiment with it until he found the hidden use of the Katsugan Isukumi.

Hiroshi pulled out one of the kunai /knives/ from the leg holster he had until now ignored and flourished it in the air. He spun it around one of his fingers before he held it out at arms length, blade parallel to the ground in front of his eyes. He placed his other hand on the far side of the blade as if to hide it from his opponent.

Unsure of what he was doing Hinata crouched low into her fighting stance. One hand held palm out over her front knee, the other over her back hip.

"Katsugan Isukumi," Hiroshi yelled triumphantly!

Suddenly the cloud ninja's body seemed to pulse and tremble before all of his muscles seemed to bulge to twice their previous size. His arms which were previously smooth and toned were now ripped. His clothes which had fit him just slightly loosely now hugged the bulges of his muscles.

"Congratulations," Hiroshi said grinning confidently. "I haven't had to use this technique in battle for some time, but now this fight is over." Seeing his opponent wasn't convinced he continued. "Now you'll see the hidden use of the Katsugan Isukumi. You see a body becomes what the mind thinks it is. A mind that thinks is weak quickly causes the body to become weak. Scared the body becomes powerless. But a mind that believes it is invincible, well…" Hiroshi threw his kunai to end his sentence.

The knife flew like a bullet past the stunned spectators on the hill and embedded itself to the pommel in the stone wall, before cracks spider-webbed out of the hole causing the large stone to shatter. The knife however stayed where it was, because it had imbedded itself in the stone behind it. It was an impressive display of strength. Hinata stood her ground unfazed.

Hiroshi looked down on the little girl laughing confidently before he charged her. Even when the laughing stopped, the smirk never left his face as he punched at her with everything he had.

Hinata side stepped the blow and blocked with her forearm and two fingers from her other hand pressed into her opponent's upper arm guiding it. With a twist of her wrist she grabbed the arm she'd just blocked and pulled in an attempted to throw the hypnotically enhanced ninja. Unfortunately Hiroshi managed to keep his feet under him by continuing his charge. He turned and punched back at Hinata's head as he stepped past her.

Hinata could feel the air pressure blow past her nose as she barely managed to lean back enough to avoid that blow. Reaching up she stuck the offending limb with two two-finger strikes at sensitive areas on the arm.

That was when Hiroshi saw his chance. With Hinata leaning back to dodge his left arm and off balance he fired off with another right.

Hinata barely manage to twist around and squirm away. She blocked with her left forearm, which she rolled along his arm to tap his bicep with another two fingers while she jabbed the fingers from her other hand into his chest near the shoulder. The block was almost effective and instead of taking the punch dead on it only grazed her shoulder.

Taking the hit in her off balance position Hinata was knocked back and had to roll away as fast as she could to avoid the cloud ninja's stomping. Once on her feet again she charged but found herself unable to strike her opponent directly.

Fortunately for Hinata, in his hypnotically enhanced state Hiroshi relied heavily on his superior strength and neglected style and strategy to hit as hard as possible. Hinata knew that she couldn't take many hits, but because of his concentrating on maximizing strength only she was able to avoid most all of attacks. She however found it near impossible to get close enough to him to strike his vital regions. For a long couple of minutes all she could do was avoid his strikes while blocking with pressure point strikes.

Hiroshi could tell that he was wearing the girl down. All she had been able to do was dodge and block and since he had used the Katsugan Isukumi on himself he hadn't felt any damage from her. And as the fight had progressed she had been taking more and more hits.

The combatants now stood a couple of steps out of striking distance staring at each other intently. Hiroshi smirked, assured of his victory he asked, "Before you die, tell me, what do you see in him?"

"He's not like me…He's strong…He's not a coward!" Hinata said calmly before she charged her opponent again.

Deciding to end it he prepared himself, stepped forward and threw the most powerful punch he could at the approaching Ninja's head.

Hinata decided it was time to end this fight. Not bothering to avoid the opposing ninja's punch she lunged for his heart, her palm striking true to its mark.

Hiroshi felt his fist connect with the leaf shinobi's face just as his heart felt as if it had been lit on fire. Falling to his knees he looked on in shock as the girl, whose head he should have just knocked free of her shoulders, turned her head back to face him without even being forced a step back. "How did you..?" he asked just before a spasm of pain silenced him causing him to clutch his chest.

Looking at her opponent without emotion Hinata replied. "When that jutsu caused you to believe you were invincible, your subconscious opened up your stores of chakra to enhance your speed and strength. But when I closed off your chakra to your arms it was powerless to overcome your closed tenketsu. So all the Jutsu did was prevent you from realizing how weak you had become." Hinata explained the reason for his defeat to the ninja dispassionately before she stepped forward and struck the man with her last palm strike. This time she struck the top of the man's head shredding the chakra pathways in the brain killing him instantly. Blood dripped out of the corpse's nose before it fell limply at Hinata's feet.

Looking down near her feet, Hinata stared at the former cloud ninja's body. She waited until she had confirmed that all of the chakra in the ninja's body had been snuffed out. Once she was sure he was dead she wasted no time leaving in the direction she had seen her teammates go.

* * *

Naruto and Sakura had difficulty tracking the fleeing ninja through the treetops of the forest until Sakura was able to decipher the signs they were leaving for their teammate. Once that was figured out they make good time and quickly began to catch up to the cloud ninja who were each carrying someone. 

Naruto and Sakura jumped from the braches they were on into a clearing that they realized too late was the perfect place for a trap. Trapped in the air on their way to the ground the clearing was suddenly filled with flying projectiles.

Thinking on his feet, or more correctly in the air, Naruto generated two Kage-Bunshins /Shadow Clones/ who promptly pushed Naruto and Sakura out of the way of the incoming projectiles, before they were destroyed by the shower of iron.

While they were able to avoid the majority of the projectiles their bodies were punctured by several bladed weapons before they hit the ground. Sakura's body however turned into a piece of dead wood just before it hit the ground. Naruto had been hit by three shuriken razor disks and a kunai before he landed in a crouch on the ground. One hand on the ground Naruto launched himself into a sprint for the tree line.

"Naruto!" Sakura screamed as she saw him stumble and fall, his back covered with blood and shuriken. She didn't see his body disappear in a puff of smoke, because a spray of shuriken forced her to pull her head back behind the tree she was hiding behind.

"Sakura-chan, are you alright?" Sakura could hear Naruto whisper from somewhere.

"How did you survive?" Sakura asked shocked.

"Kage Kawarimi /Shadow Replacement," Naruto replied.

"What?"

"Kawarimi /Replacement/ with a Kage Bunshin /Shadow-Clone," Naruto replied.

That was when Sakura hear it; the sound of things being dropped in the grass. "Naruto, did you get hit?" Sakura asked anxiously.

"Yah," Naruto replied with a suppressed grunt as he removed the last projectile that hit him.

"They could be poisoned, you better let me look at you," Sakura whispered back.

"They are, but poison doesn't hurt me."

"How?"

"It's kind of like a blood limit," Naruto replied nervously.

"The Kyuubi?" Sakura asked.

"Yah," Naruto replied, finally remembering in all the excitement that Sakura and Hinata both knew about it.

"Did you see how they were able to fire so many shuriken so fast?" Sakura asked getting back down to business. She could tell that Naruto did not want to talk about his inner-demon and now definitely wasn't the time to press him about it.

"The one with the claws fires them from his gauntlets," Hinata replied. Sakura nearly jumped out of her skin as she turned toward the sound of the voice. She could see Hinata standing by a tree only a few feet from her. Sudden motion caught her eye and she could see Naruto standing right above her trying to stay stuck to the same tree. Apparently he hadn't noticed Hinata sneak up under him. "The ribbons on them connect to his armor and it's all filled with shuriken.

"You can see through clothes?" Sakura asked incredulously.

"S-s-sor…Where did Naruto-kun go?" Hinata asked suddenly. She had been so embarrassed about answering that question so that Naruto didn't think she was a pervert that could look through people's clothes that she didn't notice him leave.

Cautiously both kunoichi looked around the trees they were hiding behind. The clearing was roughly ovoid. One end was where Naruto and Sakura had come out. At the other end Keiko was tied to a tree. The leaf genin had hid themselves a quarter of the way up the left side. The other ninja and the cloud prince were no where to be found.

Suddenly shuriken razor discs began to spray out of the forest at a point a third of the way down from the princess on the other side.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata yelled out as if it where her own personal battle cry as she charged the origin of the shuriken. Now that Hinata knew where to look with her byakugan she could see the clawed ninja spraying the shuriken at Naruto who was running toward the princess. The second ninja was halfway back to the princess, but had stopped to yell at the first Ninja to make sure he didn't hit the princess with his discs.

Sakura gasped when she heard the shuriken, but managed to follow Hinata's charge. She had also spotted the clawed ninja. When he began to turn toward them, she knew they would never make it to him in time.

Without hesitation Sakura leapt forward and punched the ground with all of the force she could manage. The blow sent tremors through the ground causing it to ripple and crack open in the area in front of her. The shaking caused the clawed ninja to fall back sending shuriken well over Sakura's head. Hinata didn't need the clearance as the miniature earthquake had caused her to fall down.

* * *

Naruto was knocked from his feet just before he managed to get to Keiko-san. He fell forward in a roll and kept moving toward the Fire Country Princess. Biting his thumb and forming the necessary seals as he rolled he came to a stop a couple of feet away from the Princess with his palm on the ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu/Summoning Technique/" Naruto yelled. 

Keiko screamed in shock when she saw the frog appear. She hadn't been listening the other night at dinner when Naruto talked about summoning giant frogs. When the smoke from the jutsu cleared there stood a frog almost as tall as Naruto. It was thin and stood tall on two powerful legs that were mostly bent. The frog wore nothing but the katana on its hip which it used its webbed equivalent of a thumb to loosen from it sheath.

Naruto, who somewhat resembled a frog in the position he was squatting in, stood up and began to give the frog orders. "Gamamanzo, cut the princess loose and guard her," Naruto said loudly.

"Oh and Keiko-san, don't believe a word he says and if you kiss him he probably won't turn into a prince," Naruto said before he began walking toward the approaching cloud ninja.

"What's he talking about, frogs can't talk," Keiko said indignantly.

"No, of course frogs can not talk, what was messier Naruto thinking, eh?" Gamamanzo said before drawing his sword to cut the princess from the tree.

* * *

Gyaku had been off balance yelling at his blood thirsty teammate trying to remind him that they needed the princess alive when the girl's tremor jutsu had hit. He'd fallen down and consequentially hadn't made it to the princess before Naruto. It didn't really matter, because now all he had to do was defeat the leaf-genin and take the princess with them when they left. 

"So is this the size of your giant frogs?" Gyaku asked mockingly.

"Nah, he's a pretty small one," Naruto said with a shrug.

"Well exaggeration and lies won't bring you victory here boy. You'll have to beat me for real." Gyaku said grinning as his eyes became jet black.

Then for the second time that day Naruto watched in shock as what looked like the cloud ninja's ghost ran out of his body at an inhuman speed. Only this time the shadow ran straight at Naruto and punched him in the stomach. Naruto was so surprised when all the ghostly punch did was make him a little queasy that he didn't think to move until Gyaku's body was jerked along the same path his spirit had just taken and its fist landed in Naruto's stomach doubling him over.

Gyaku couldn't decide whether he was pleased or disappointed about how weak his opponent was. He was hoping that he really was related to the man the bingo book said might have been the fastest man alive. The man who had just become the Leaf's fourth Hokage had single handedly killed hundreds of cloud ninja during the first part of the war. It was his fortuitous death early in the war that allowed the Cloud to escape ignominious defeat and fight on for three more years. He and the Hyuuga who had targeted the Hakumei clan were responsible for its near destruction. But it appeared that he would be denied revenge on the man that killed his father.

Still smirking Gyaku followed his punch with a swinging ax kick that came down on the back of his opponents head. He couldn't help chuckling at the opponent he'd just knocked to the ground before he ran toward his companion who seemed to be having trouble with the other two leaf children.

* * *

Sakura kept charging despite her embarrassment about knocking all of her teammates as well as her opponents down. She was surprised and more than a little impressed when Hinata, who had fallen forward broke her fall with her arms in a text book break fall, immediately pushed herself backup and took off in a sprint before Sakura could even catch up to her! 

Hinata managed to reach the clawed ninja just as he finished getting up. Batting away a swipe from his left hand with a chakra enhanced slap to his forearm she lunged forward with her left hand. "Don't you hurt my…" Hinata yelled at the ninja as her palm struck the metal chest plate dead center over his heart. But her cry was cut short as the cloud ninja staggered back and swung his right arm around himself protectively.

Easily able to avoid the retreating ninja's claws Hinata was unable to lean back fast enough to avoid the ribbon feed that connected his gauntlets to his chest plate. The ribbon it turned out was also sharp. It sent of sparks as it cut through her jacket and into her upper chest.

Seeing Hinata's predicament Sakura rapidly began to form hand seals as she ran. Too late to keep Hinata from getting hit Sakura swung her green glowing hands at the ribbon cutting it with her chakra scalpel.

Because it was cut near the gauntlet the largest part of the ribbon fell back away from Hinata preventing her from being cut in half just as her foot flew up and knocked Jinsha's clawed gauntlet up into the air. Both ends of the ribbon feed spilled out shuriken.

Sakura knew that she would have to get rid of the cloud ninja fast if she was going to have a chance at closing up Hinata's wound. Seeing her chance she twisted back toward the ninja. Using the opening caused by the arm Hinata had kicked upward, Sakura punched at his ribs for all she was worth.

Jinsha was still hurting from the first girl's strikes to his forearm and chest. He couldn't believe that such simple slaps could hurt him through his armor. He could see now why the Hidden Village of Cloud wanted the secrets of the Hyuuga so badly. Seeing the obviously powerful blow coming from the other leaf kunoichi he brought his other arm around hoping to cut her with the ribbon-feed like he had the other girl.

Fortunately for Jinsha, he managed to get his left arm in front of Sakura's blow before it crushed his chest. Unfortunately she crushed the gauntlet, possibly breaking his forearm and broke the metal ribbon free from his gauntlet before he was hurtled back a couple of yards into a tree.

Hoping that would at least give Sakura the time she needed to close up Hinata's chest, and ignoring the minor scratch the severed metal ribbon had given her, she turned back toward her injured teammate. Hinata was right where she had fallen a moment ago, already trying to get up despite the blood beginning to soak through her clothes.

Sakura was prevented from jumping to her knees to start healing her teammate's injuries by a shadowy hand reaching through her chest. The hand jerked back beginning to pull out a shadowy form of Sakura as Hakumei Gyaku's body caught up two his disembodied hand.

The Hakumei Clan's feared speed stemmed from their Kurogan's ability to send their spirit out of their body. They could use this ability to astral project enabling them to see and hear things great distances away without being detected by anyone who didn't also posses the kurogan. But if they didn't completely untether their spirit from their body they found that there was a limit of how far they could move from their body, before it was forcefully pulled back to their spirit. The more powerful the user was the farther they could move away and effectively the faster they could move. But more feared than that was their disembodied spirit's ability to affect the spirits of other living things, including the ability to rip that spirit from the body of their victims, killing them.

Gyaku was finding it difficult to rip this girl's soul apart. This usually only happened with people from the strongest of will. Judging by this and the strength it would take to crush a metal gauntlet and knock its owner back as far as she did, Gyaku knew that this girl must be single.

It was a Hakumei clan secret, but this technique was a battle of wills even if the deck was stacked in the Kurogan user's favor. There were some people with strong enough wills to resist this technique. Gyaku had in his career as a ninja managed to run into two such people, who were now to his satisfaction quite dead. But despite the difficulty this girl was giving him he knew that she would not be added to that list.

After a few seconds he had managed to pull out half of the girl's essence. That was when the impossible happened. The girl's body began to swear at him as it moved its arms, which should have been devoid of spirit or chakra, to choke him.

Had he not been having trouble breathing Gyaku would have been inclined to take notes. Not even truck drivers could swear as fluently as this little girl was doing. Releasing the girl's sprit and watching it snap back into her body Gyaku send his ethereal body back out of the girl's grip, looping around behind her.

Hinata had seen the cloud ninja suddenly appear and start to rip part of Sakura's chakra circulatory system out of her body. She'd tried to get up to help, but before she could Naruto seemed to suddenly appear out of nowhere. Appearing next to Sakura he elbowed the cloud ninja who had somehow managed to get behind her. The enemy ninja was sent through the air as Naruto skidded to a halt digging a furrow in the grass.

Gyaku was confused. The Hakumei clan had studied and documented the powers the kurogan granted them very thoroughly. Someone whose ethereal body had been removed from the waist up should have been completely immobile. That girl should not have been able to speak and under no circumstances move her arms. Then after he had successfully extricated himself from her grip and gotten behind her, before he could draw his knife and stab her he had been sent flying by something he hadn't even seen.

Confusion was something that he was trained to deal with however. Unable to turn his physical body to look behind him, Gyaku turned his ethereal body to see what had sent him flying. He was shocked to see the boy he though he'd knocked unconscious skidding past his female companions.

Naruto saw the airborne ninja's ghostly face sticking out of the back of his head. The sight almost made him want to throw up on the spot, but Naruto had seen the painful look on Sakura-chan's ghost body as it was being ripped out. He was not about to let any of his precious people be hurt!

Gyaku never took his spectral eyes off of his opponent as he landed and righted himself. Seeing his teammate was already moving back toward the girls Gyaku prepared to distract the boy who was proving to be more of a challenge than he had earlier assumed. He was starting to enjoy this fight.

"That ugly girl must have some kind of multiple personality or something!" Gyaku yelled as he began to walk toward Naruto.

"You must be half blind, but Sakura-chan has some kind of ability that helps her defend against mind control attacks," Naruto yelled back as he began to approach his opponent.

"Who knew that insanity had advantages?"

"She may have poor taste sometimes, but I'd hardly call her insane."

"Poor taste?" Gyaku asked.

"Well she did turn me down for some other guy," Naruto said sheepishly.

"Well, it seems she's more rational that I though," Gyaku said mockingly. In truth he was impressed. The boy kept his guard up, even when he insulted his manhood. He's got a lot of focus for a kid, but Gyaku doubted he even noticed his teammates fighting for their lives behind him. Knowing he wouldn't get a better time Gyaku made his move.

Despite the banter Naruto was making sure to pay close attention to his opponent. He knew he could cover the distance between them in a moment. Naruto could hear the sounds of Sakura and Hinata fighting behind him, but he was confident that they could take care of themselves against the weaker cloud ninja.

The cloud ninja's ghost suddenly shot across the distance between them, but this time Naruto was ready for it. The shadowy form of his opponent moved to one side of him. Naruto immediately jumped back to his other side and threw a kunai at it. The knife was halfway to its target when Gyaku's shadowy image extended from his body again, running behind Naruto's back to appear at his side again. Reacting as fast as he could Naruto swung a punch at the incoming shadow.

Gyaku was impressed. He seldom found ninja smart or fast enough to attack his ethereal body in anticipation of his physical body catching up. The kid was faster than he had first believed. But he wasn't fast enough, Gyaku thought as he grabbed the leaf ninja's incoming arm by the wrist and twisted, sending the Ninja rolling on his back away from him.

Naruto rolled like a log several times before he managed to stop himself and get back up. He was almost all the way back to his feet when he saw the shadowy body of his opponent approach again. This time he knew that not even he could get away in time.

Naruto tried to jump into the air, but the shadowy hand of his opponent entered his chest stopping him before he could do more than jerk.

Gyaku began to pull the leaf Ninja boy's spirit out of his body starting at the chest and head. The ethereal body came out very easily until he got to the stomach. The spirit seemed to actually be caught on something.

As Gyaku pulled trying to rip the boy's ethereal body out of his physical body he began to notice the most terrible spiritual essence he had ever encountered. Orange chakra so intense that it was visible to the naked eye began to swirl around the boy's body quickly changing its appearance into something more monstrous. Then the leaf ninja's eyes began to glow blood red and his body began to growl like a wild beast.

Had the Kurogan master not been so terrified he would have been intrigued to notice that the boy's spirit didn't change appearance to match his body even when it began to draw the orange chakra around itself. Despite all of the impossible things he'd witnessed today Gyaku was totally unprepared for what happened next. The leaf shinobi's spirit, now surrounded in the terrible chakra, reached out and clawed at him. The boy's ethereal body should have been insubstantial, but it actually managed to lacerate his arm forcing him to release the boy's spirit.

"What's wrong with you people?" Gyaku yelled breathlessly and obviously shaken up by the strange encounters.

Members of the Hakumei clan were known for their unflinching cool in battle. Nothing could ever scare them, because they were the most terrible warriors to ever exist. So Gyaku would not admit to have been scared, despite what he saw when he released the boy's spirit. There in his stomach he saw the face of a fox he knew to be a demon growling in anger at him. It wanted out and more than it wanted out it wanted blood. The sight terrified him. Uncertain if he could take revenge on his father's killer today, Gyaku decided he would at least begin his revenge on the Hyuuga, who had killed his brother and so many more of his family.

* * *

Hinata nearly fell back over as Naruto rushed past her, but caught herself. She couldn't imagine how painful having one's chakra circulatory system partially ripped out must be, but she could see that Sakura was having trouble recovering from it. Her pink haired teammate was leaning over with her hands on her knees breathing heavily apparently oblivious to the clawed ninja who was now flying through the air to pounce on the unsuspecting ninja.

"Hakke Kuushou/Hakke Vacuum Palm/" Hinata yelled as she threw one of her arms out in desperation. Alerted to her predicament Sakura turned just in time to see the body that had been barreling toward her through the air be hurled back into another tree.

Remembering Hinata's condition Sakura became desperate. She needed to stop the bleeding in Hinata's chest, not let her aggravate it by continuing to fight. Knowing she had to get rid of the cloud ninja first, Sakura ran screaming at her opponent, who had not yet climbed out of the second tree he'd become intimately acquainted with today.

Jinsha was trying to extricate himself from the splintery embrace of the send tree he'd made the acquaintance of during this fight when he heard the crazy girl's shriek. Looking up he saw her charging straight at him. He knew he would never be able to take another hit from her in his current state. The one blow he had received had destroyed his gauntlet and injured his forearm.

Ignoring the sharp pains in his forearm the nearly declawed ninja began to desperately form hand seals as quickly as he could. Satsu Jinsha swore he could see the blood vessels in the approaching ninja's enraged eyes by the time he managed to finish the seals.

"Iron Maiden-no-Jutsu!" Sakura heard the foreign ninja yell as metal seemed to wrap itself around the ninja, encasing him in a metal sarcophagus. The top of the sarcophagus like enclosure was identical to the hood and mask the ninja wore. It was all told a very scary looking jutsu. Sakura didn't let it bother her as she punched it square in the chest.

The blow cracked the metal enclosure and pushed it through the already damaged tree that the cloud ninja had been climbing out of. Determined to rip the sardine out of his can Sakura continued her charge readying another super powered haymaker.

Sakura jumped into the air as she approached the _Can-O-Ninja_ and prepared to crush him with her monstrous strength. But her plans were thwarted when the metal surrounding the metal surrounding her opponent suddenly unwrapped like two batwings. One of them swung out brushing Sakura out of the way.

Without hesitation the young ninja punched for all she was worth. Her blow sounded like thunder as it cracked the living metal wing, but Sakura was hurled away behind the ninja further into the trees.

Curling into a ball and spinning in midair, Sakura deftly landed feet first into a tree. That was when she saw the cloud ninja's true objective. Hinata had somehow managed to get up. She stood shakily on her feet with one hand splayed over her bleeding chest in a vain attempt to staunch the flow. The now winged ninja was charging straight for her.

"Doesn't that girl know when to stay down?" Sakura thought as she waited for the tree, which was now creaking and bowing under the force of her impact, to swing back and catapult her back toward her opponent.

Sakura screamed as she was hurled toward her opponent. It gave away her position and warned her enemy that she was coming, but she needed to distract him from attacking Hinata. Besides there weren't that many things that even a ninja could do to stop a freight train.

The ploy didn't work. The cloud ninja was going to get to Hinata first and all three of them knew it. Sakura saw it before her target did. Without taking her left hand off her chest, Hinata lunged forward twisting her ankle allowing her to spin around and sending her heel at the approaching ninja's shoulder.

In what appeared to be a reflexive gesture one of the ninja's wings moved to shield him from the blow. It was the right wing, the one Sakura had cracked. The medical ninja wondered if Hinata had planned it that way.

"He said to catch up!" Hinata yelled, just before her heel connected with the metal wing. Her foot exploded with a brilliant flash of light shattering the metal shield. The charging ninja was forced to stop his attack to avoid the blow as it sailed through his supposedly invincible shield of steel. Then, even before her foot made it back to the ground Hinata lunged sending her palm into the off balance ninja's chest. Knowing that the thick metal chest plate he wore would help shield him from the attack's affects she put as much chakra as she could into the blow and was rewarded a second later with the sounds of her opponent coughing and hacking behind his mask. A moment later Sakura's fist impacted with the back of the Ninja's armor making a disgusting crunching sound as the cloud ninja's chest and armor were crushed, killing him.

Wasting no time Sakura moved around the collapsing cloud ninja to get to Hinata's side. "You're as crazy as Naruto," she said as she began to quickly but gently lay Hinata on the ground. "Now let's take a look at your chest," Sakura continued, trying to keep Hinata calm as she unzipped her jacket and began to cut open her shirt with her chakra scalpel to expose the wound. Fortunately this time Hinata was wearing more than just a tube top.

The cut wasn't as bad as Sakura had expected. It cut into her ribs in some places, but was actually very shallow in others. The ligaments of her Pectorals were still partially attached, but Sakura was impressed that Hinata could move her arms at all.

Sakura began mending bone and flesh immediately. It appeared Hinata had been very lucky. She wouldn't be in any danger of bleeding to death for another few minutes, but she was also in no condition to fight in the middle of a battlefield. She had just started healing the wound when a sudden gust of wind nearly blew her over.

* * *

Naruto saw the maniacal grin on his opponents face and he knew there was going to be trouble. He had let the Cloud ninja get between him and his teammates. Time seemed to slow down for Naruto. For the first time he was able to see what condition his teammates were in and it wasn't good. The other ninja was laid out, but Sakura was kneeling over Hinata's body performing some kind of medical jutsu. And now the remaining cloud ninja's shadowy form was streaking toward them.

Naruto could see the Cloud ninja's intention as its ghost knelt down and reached toward Hinata's chest. The ninja might have been a pervert, but somehow Naruto doubted that he only intended to grope Hinata's prone form. The world became red as Naruto did what he knew was the only think he could do to save his precious people.

* * *

Sakura and Hinata both turned their heads to see Naruto digging a furrow in the ground as he skidded to a stop. He was dragging the remaining cloud ninja by the forearm. Sakura was sure it had to be the sun reflecting off of Naruto's jacket, but her teammate seemed to be covered in s slight orange glow. Hinata, from her slightly better vantage point was the first to notice the not so subtle changes in Naruto's face.

Just before he came to a stop Naruto twisted around tossing the black-eyed ninja into a tree. Now facing his friends again for the first time they could see the full extent to the changes to his face.

Hinata was surprised to see the cute scars on her beloved's cheeks had darkened and grown angular and larger. But more disturbing was the change in his eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes that always seemed to hide pain behind cheerfulness and kindness; eyes that seemed to cut through the crap and see straight into a person's heart, revealing their pain. Now those eyes were crimson and menacing. Instead of offering hope to all he saw, now they promised no such thing. Filled with malice, they seemed to promise pain.

Sakura found Naruto's look a little disturbing. She could swear that she'd seen his eyes turn red and slitted like that before, but she had never seen his face become so feral looking. Naruto had always looked goofy to her, even when he was mad. He even accomplished his duties as a ninja, as much as he really accomplished them anyway, with that goofy, self-righteous look on his face. But now he looked like an angry beast. The silly scratches on his faced had transformed into thick black marks that made his face seem to resemble the mussel of a wild animal. And his teeth didn't seem to completely fit in his mouth. Despite all the time she had spent with him, she didn't think she knew this Naruto.

Putting aside her unease, Sakura realized that she had a injured woman she had to get back to. An injured woman that despite her injuries was trying to get up. After seeing Naruto throw what appeared to be the strongest of the enemy ninja around like a rag doll, Sakura didn't think he'd need any help.

"You'll just get in the way," Sakura said as she gently pushed Hinata back down so she could treat her injury. 'Great,' Sakura thought, now I'm on a team with two crazy people instead of just one. For some reason the thought brought a smile to Sakura's face. She was too engrossed in closing up Hinata's wound to notice the crestfallen look that came over her newest teammate.

"Why am I so weak?" Hinata asked pitifully.

"The muscles in your chest control the movement of your arms. With this wound you can hardly move your arms. Consequentially you won't be able to perform jutsus very fast. And your fighting style relies heavily on your hands doesn't it?" Sakura explained quickly and professionally. It did little to make Hinata feel less dejected. She wanted to help her Naruto-kun; to finally catch up to him and be a valuable teammate.

"So you'll have to wait a minute for me to fix it, before we show that cloud punk that Konoha Kunoichi are the strongest," Sakura said, looking up with a grin on her face. "But we'll get him!"

"Right," Hinata said with an uncertain grin on her face.

The _cloud punk_ however had no intention of waiting to be taught anything about kunoichi from Konoha or anywhere else. He climbed out of the impression he'd left in the tree slowly hoping that Naruto would charge him. When Naruto happily obliged him Gyaku lunged forward out of his body toward the two hapless girls..

Hinata watched in horror as she saw the shadowy chakra of the cloud ninja rushing toward her. She didn't even hear Sakura tell her that she was ok now.

Sakura didn't know what to make of Hinata's sudden panic. She had just told her that she was good as new after all. That was when she saw the ghostly hand reaching over her shoulder toward Hinata's chest. In her frantic effort to get off of Hinata and combat the approaching threat she didn't notice the slight glow to Hinata's skin, the slight gust of wind that seemed to be emanating from her, or how slippery she became.

Gyaku didn't notice these things either but he did notice when his hand struck the Hyuuga girl's chest and instead of passing through it bounced right off. He looked at his hand and back at the girl in shock, when something else that he'd never experienced happened to him. Gyaku felt his body being jerked toward his spirit, but before it had traveled halfway to him he felt it get stopped by something and then dragged away at an angle from the path it was traveling.

Hinata didn't have time to feel relieved about her opponents failed technique or confusion. She could see his body flying toward her like a bullet. It was half way to her when Naruto-kun appeared. One moment he wasn't there and the next he was. Even with everything appearing to move in slow motion she had been unable to see his approach.

Naruto-kun had managed to grab the cloud ninja's projectile of a body by the forearm. He dug his heels in to the ground as he attempted to arrest his and the terrifying ninja's motion. Letting out a manly grunt of exertion as the cloud ninja's body kept moving Naruto-kun jerked it back by the forearm.

Instead of his physical body catching up to his ethereal form, Gyaku's spirit was yanked back away from his targets and back into his body. He reentered his body just in time to bounce off the ground where the blond ninja had thrown him. Rolling on his side when he hit the ground again, the cloud shinobi felt sharp pains shoot through his shoulder every time the arm that Naruto had grabbed hit the ground.

Ignoring the intense surge of pain it sent through his entire arm and chest Gyaku used his injured arm to push his still rolling body back up to his feet. Grimacing in pain he examined the Leaf Ninja that had done the impossible. No one in the entire recorded history of the Hakumei clan had ever been able to grab onto the body of someone using that technique, and he had. Perhaps the boy was the one he was looking for after all.

Sakura had managed to get turned around in time to see Naruto jerking the cloud ninja's body back by the arm. Her medical instincts told her that the action had probably dislocated the ninja's arm or worse. Her suspicions were confirmed moments later when she saw the unrestrained look of sheer pain on the ninja's face as he used his injured arm to propel himself to his feet. That was when she heard Naruto's gravely, growl like angry voice.

"You shouldn't have attacked my friends," Naruto growled out, barely able contain his rage. "I won't let you hurt my precious people!"

Hinata had sat up with a jerk when the cloud ninja's shadowy presence had jerked away form her apparently oblivious to how much of her chest was showing thanks to Sakura's cutting her shirt open. She was enthralled by the way Naruto-kun stalked toward the ninja who was getting to his feet. That was when she heart him say it. "_People_," not "_Person_" she'd heard him say "_Precious People_." That meant her too! The sky could have fallen down on her and she probably wouldn't have noticed it. Not just Sakura, her Naruto-kun cared about her too!

Gyaku couldn't help himself he laughed, and the young cloud ninja's resulting scowl made him laugh more. He saw how he could hurt the young ninja. The irony of it all was perfect for his revenge.

"You must be his son," Gyaku began. "Now my revenge will be complete!" he finished menacingly gleeful sounding.

Naruto didn't know what the cloud ninja could be talking about. If no one in Konoha knew who his parents were, how could some cloud punk know? He took a few steps back as the enemy ninja began to walk casually toward him. Naruto stepped back as far as he dared before holding his ground at a point that hopefully would be far enough away from the girls that he could keep his black eyed opponent from getting to them again.

Naruto's retreating steps were not lost on Hakumei Gyaku. He grinned widely, pleased that his opponent was scared of him. The fearsome cloud ninja couldn't wipe the smug look off of his face as he sauntered back toward his opponent. Victory was his.

After he had covered most of the distance toward the tensed up Leaf Ninja, Gyaku charged forward with his spectral body back toward the girls who, watching in fascination had not even gotten all of the way back up. Giving the male shinobi a wide berth Gyaku decided it would be best to leave the girl the boy had already admitted to having feelings for last. That left the Hyuuga. That was when it happened.

Sakura berated herself for just sitting on her knees when she saw the ghostly form of the enemy ninja shoot out of his body, curve around Naruto and move toward Hinata. She had trained relentlessly for over two years so that she wouldn't be the one holding her teammates back. Then as soon as Naruto came back she just slipped into her old place watching her teammate's backs as they moved on ahead of her.

Before she could get very far into her reverie or stand up Naruto suddenly appeared in front of the approaching shadow. He had one hand cocked back as he skidded backward staying in front of the attacking spectral form. She'd been asking Tsunade-sensei to teach her the teleportation technique that all the Jounin and even some of the chuunin used, but she'd always refused. Sakura was beginning to think that her teacher the mighty Fifth Hokage didn't know it.

It was comforting in a way to see that Naruto didn't quite have it right. He couldn't quite seem to even get the basics down, but he could learn all of these jounin level techniques with ease. It was a little intimidating, but there was no puff of smoke and the skid was definitely not part of the move. All in all, it made Naruto seem more human, because he was fallible. She felt that this time she could keep up with him.

Gyaku gaped in shock as the blond shinobi appeared in front of him. He had his arm cocked back and a swirling vortex of energy was forming it his palm. The boy was too close for the cloud ninja to move his ethereal form out of the way he realized in horror. He didn't know what the swirling ball of chakra in the blonds hand did, but his head was going to pass right through it.

It had taken a lot of effort for Naruto to make it so that his skid would be in the same direction the Cloud-punk was moving. But if his theory was right, the ninja's body would travel the exact same way his ghost had. So he lined up his rasengan to pass straight through the cloud ninja's ghostly head.

The resulting explosion of his rasengan took Naruto off guard. Between his lack of preparation and the lack of a physical target to absorb the backlash Naruto was completely unable to stand up to the blast and was knocked down by it.

Hinata however was able to see what had happened better than her Naruto-kun. She could see that when the cloud ninja's chakra left his body it took most of the chakra circulatory system with it. So when Naruto-kun's swirling ball of chakra passed through the shadowy chakra head, it shredded most of the chakra circulatory system that was usually around the brain before it exploded.

However she instinctively closed her eyes to shield them from the blast of wind from the explosion. So she couldn't see what had knocked her back down until she looked up to see Naruto-kun's face just above hers. He had pushed himself up with his arms but had stopped and was now staring intently into her eyes. His hair swayed ever so slightly in the wind and his face had the same slightly confused look on it that Hinata had always imagined he'd have when they….

"Hey you two," Sakura interrupted. "There's another lady present, and I don't need to see that." She knew it was completely innocent, but she couldn't help but tease her teammates.

Hinata was so caught up in the moment that she didn't understand what her teammate had said. She thought it was adorable the way Naruto-kun's face twisted in a thoughtful gesture. Captivated by his nearness and the sound of his voice she didn't think about the questioning way he said, "Lady?" But the moment was shattered by Naruto yelling another woman's name.

"Keiko-san!" Naruto yelled as he shot off of his blushing teammate. "I almost forgot!" his voice seemed to float back to both of the shocked girls he'd left in his wake as he ran back toward where he'd left the princess guarded by a frog.

When Naruto arrived to where he had left the Keiko, he found her unconscious in Gamamanzo's arms.

"What did you do to her?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"Nothing Messier Naruto," the frog replied stroking one of it's mustache like tentacles. "She was so shy that she fainted in my arms before I could shower her with kisses."

"Of all the frogs I could have summoned, I had to get the perverted one," Naruto mumbled as he took the princess out of the frog's arms and tried to wake her up.

Sakura, who had arrived with Hinata, had heard the end of the conversation and was not nearly as forgiving. Popping her knuckles she marched menacingly toward the unsuspecting frog before she yelled: "Pervert!"

End Chapter 5

* * *

Poor Gamamanzo.

Sorry about the time it took to get this update out. Special thanks to JohnyG, Conquistador, witchfyre, Jetflash, and Vladimir "CrackBaby23" who's reviews and E-mails got me motivated to finish this chapter when I had gotten busy and stopped working on it. I especially apologize to all the people who I promised I would have this done last weekend, I forgot that I had to fly cross country and back that weekend. Unfortunately that kept me too busy to work on the story. Then finally, my proofreader's computer took a dive and we had trouble getting a good copy of MS Office installed on it. Thanks for all of your support.

This chapter so far was the longest; over 21,600 words and 45 pages. Thanks for all of your patience and thanks for reading all of you that weren't patient. I have finished an outline of the remainder of the story, which will hopefully make writing the remaining chapters easier and faster as well as make the love story work. See you all next chapter.

* * *

Please stay tuned for the next chapter of Hinata's Story: Underneath Your Clothes.

Chapter 6 Tentatively: _Be careful what you wish for_

What will Hinata have to go through to get what she wants?


	6. Be Careful What You Ask For

Hinata's Story: Underneath Your Clothes

Chapter 6: Be Careful What You Ask For

* * *

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1 and don't ask anyone to pay to read this story; you might end up locked in a closet.

* * *

Naruto was very subdued on the way back; so subdued in fact, that it was Sakura that broke the silence first. 

"So that was the Kyuubi that made your face change like that?" Sakura asked; her curiosity getting the better of her.

"And your eyes," Hinata mumbled so silently that Naruto might not have heard her.

His voice stuck in his throat, Naruto looked down at the princess he carried in his arms. Gamamonzo had been dispatched back to his own dimension when Sakura had hit him, so Naruto was left carrying Keiko. Their trip through the tree tops had yet to wake her. Part of Naruto wanted the sleeping princess to wake so that he would have an excuse not to answer. The other part was scared she already had.

Looking down, Naruto saw that the bell was not on his side this time. Naruto searched the young princess's face thoroughly for any sign that she might be faking before replying hesitantly and quietly in the affirmative.

"But how?" Sakura asked perplexed.

"The seal allows the kyuubi's chakra to leak in to my body," Naruto said quietly.

"What?" Sakura exclaimed. "Why?" Sakura's shock was a stark contrast to Hinata's silent, concerned expression.

Naruto examined the princess in his arms silently for a moment before answering hesitantly, "Ero-Senin says the Fourth did it to protect me."

"But you don't think so," Sakura said thoughtfully.

"No," was Naruto's somber reply.

"Then why?" Hinata asked hesitantly, concern evident in her voice and on her face as she finally rejoined the conversation.

Again Naruto's eyes turned to Keiko as if to avoid the inevitable. "I think it's to keep me from being destroyed."

"What?" Hinata and Sakura's response to Naruto's nearly silent declaration seemed deafening in contrast.

This time all eyes followed Naruto's gaze to the lady in his arms to see if the sudden noise had woken her. It had not. No longer able to delay the inevitable Naruto spoke. "The Kyuubi is incredibly powerful. More than you can imagine." Naruto began to speak more loudly now. "Some times when I'm using its chakra, I feel like there's this burning waterfall running through my body and there's a whole huge lake trying to push itself through me and if it weren't for the seal I would explode." The last of Naruto's words came out in a rush.

"Well of course the Kyuubi's strong," Sakura replied. "It was more powerful than all of Konoha. No single person's body is going to be able to handle all of its power! It took the strongest hokage ever to…to do what he did."

"Yah," Naruto said through clenched teeth. The sleeping girl in his arms was a constant reminder of his need to stay quiet. "He had the Shinigami _/Death-God: Demon similar to the Grim Reaper in Japanese Mythology/_ right there, but instead of sealing the kyuubi in himself like the third did to Orochimaru's arms, he sealed it in a helpless boy who had already lost his parents; who didn't ask to be some kind of hero and definitely didn't ask to be the village scapegoat!" Naruto hissed out.

"Shinigami?" Sakura asked, the rest of what Naruto said going over her head.

"The technique he used calls on a Shinigami to make the seal, but to do it you have to give up your life to the Shinigami." Naruto's voice wavered. Despite how angry Naruto could be about the Kyuubi at times, he couldn't feel anything but respect for a man who gave up his life to protect those he loved. Some how he couldn't believe that a man that could do that could have done anything to intentionally hurt him if he could help it.

"Ano…Maybe he wanted to make sure he left behind someone who would be strong enough to protect everyone when he was gone." Somehow Hinata's hesitant voice seemed to overpower her teammates' louder voices.

"And use me as a weapon like Gara's father tried to do to him?" Naruto growled.

It was the first time Naruto had ever spoken sharply to the young Hyuuga heiress. She stopped moving as her heart shattered and fell in pieces all around her. She didn't even realize she had started to cry until she heard herself sniffling.

The sound shocked Naruto out of his rant. He had made plenty of girls mad at him before. In fact sometimes it seemed that the mere sight of him was enough to make most girls mad at him. But he had never made a girl cry before and now that he had, it gave him a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Covering the entire distance back to his sobbing teammate in one giant leap, Naruto landed with a thud. Naruto tried to reach out and place his hand on Hinata's shoulder and say something comforting to the crying girl, but the woman in his arms made that difficult. After fumbling with both his words and the princess for a few moments he finally set her down.

"Hinata," Naruto called his teammate's name hesitantly as he knelt down in front of her. Sitting on his knees he was now at eye level with Hinata who was sitting with her arms wrapped around her knees in front of her. "Please don't cry because of me," Naruto pleaded. The awkward silence stretched as he searched for the words to describe what he felt. "It's just that most people that know about…about the Kyuubi already hate me and if they saw that…. I'm sorry…. It's just that some times I'm scared that now that you two know about it that….you'll hate me too."

Hinata slowly lifted her head to look at Naruto for the first time since she had started crying. Tears were knocked off her face as the branch they were on quivered from the force of Sakura's landing on it. "How could I hate you? I…"

Whether Hinata would have had the courage to tell Naruto how she felt at that moment will never be known. Before she could even realize what she was saying she was interrupted by her pink haired teammate's loud voice. "She's right, why would we hate someone for saving our lives!" Sakura yelled just before she punched Naruto in the head hard enough to send renewed shivers through the branch.

Naruto had long since forbidden himself to ever cry. Despite this he found himself fighting back tears. Fortunately for him before he could show up Hinata, he was saved by the bell. Or in this case the loud shrill scream of a princess who had just been awakened by Sakura's yelling.

Now for a trained ninja waking up in a tree is as little concern as walking on or jumping between them. Keiko however had never climbed any where near this high up a tree. Once aware of her situation she promptly screamed and began to fall.

Sakura dove toward the princess. Naruto dove for the ground. Sakura felt the princesses silky hand slip through her own as she got to her too late. Naruto managed to catch the falling maiden in midair. With a twist that was a simple maneuver for even an academy student, Naruto landed on his feet holding the limp princess who upon seeing her predicament had apparently decided she was better off unconscious.

Unfortunately with the princess back in the land of nod there wasn't anything left to distract everyone from the awkwardness of their situation when Naruto returned to the branch they had all been sharing. Hinata was no longer crying, but had curled back up into a ball looking slightly crestfallen. Naruto didn't know what to say and he didn't dare put the princess back down again until they were on the ground. Fortunately Sakura came to the rescue. "Well I've always wondered where you get that freakish stamina you have. It's because of the Kyuubi isn't it?"

Naruto flinched at the sound of the demon's name coming from his teammate's lips. He didn't want her to hate him, because of the demon inside him, but he didn't want her or everyone else to think that his only strength was the Kyuubi and he was useless with out it.

"Yes and no," came the much older voice that those who didn't know its owner might have called wizened. "You see the seal that holds the Kyuubi is maintained by Naruto's chakra," Jiraiya explained as he annealed himself to the trunk of the tree his team was on. "So it's like he's been exercising his chakra nonstop from the day he was born."

"So not only does he have tons of chakra just pouring into him he's got a seal that's been strengthening him since he was a baby?" Sakura asked.

Sakura didn't see Naruto's crestfallen look, but Hinata did. "But Naruto's trained harder than anyone ever since we were in the academy," Hinata supplied. She'd after all watched him and didn't want people to think that the man she admired didn't earn his incredible strength.

Sakura however wasn't convinced. She remembered Naruto from the academy too! "If he practiced so hard then why didn't he do better in the academy?" Her voice drew Naruto's attention away from gaping at Hinata back to his other teammate. He was about to deny Sakura's insinuation, but he didn't get the chance to voice his denial before his Sensei spoke up.

"Yes, Naruto worked very hard." Jiraiya cut in. "And yes the Kyuubi's chakra does leak into his body, but not that much. It took him nearly a month of constant training to learn to harness the demons chakra and pull it out of the seal," Jiraiya explained.

"You threw me off a cliff!" Naruto yelled at the old man.

Sakura's shocked comment was drowned out by Hinata's gasp.

"That's beside the point," Jiraiya said. "The point is that even in the academy you trained harder than anyone I've ever met."

"But then why wasn't he the best in the class?" Sakura asked perplexed. It was a tenant of her world that hard work made people better. She had always assumed that Naruto just goofed off when he was out of school just like he did in class and that was why his performance was so bad.

"I'm getting to that. You see, the techniques taught in the academy are the ones that are not only the easiest, but the ones that use the least chakra. Those types of jutsus just aren't suited to Naruto." Jiraiya explained as if it were obvious.

"Not suited?" Sakura asked confused, "but why?"

"Naruto, can you do the Bunshin no Jutsu /Replication Technique?" Jiraiya called out to the now sulking Naruto

"Yes," he replied defensively.

"Really?" Jiraiya asked.

"Well… sometimes," Naruto admitted grudgingly.

"Only sometimes?" Sakura asked surprised. She had been sure that if he could perform the much more advanced Kage-Bunshin /Shadow Clone/ he'd be able to perform Bunshin no Jutsu with ease.

"I can't use that little chakra" Naruto said testily. "Every time I do, too much of the Kyuubi's chakra gets in the technique and messes it up." Naruto finished in a mumble

"I didn't know…" Sakura said shocked and pityingly

"Well having this monster sealed inside my stomach isn't some kind of great gift the Fourth gave me that automatically turns me into a super-ninja. It messes me up more than anything else!" Upset Naruto turned on his heal and took off back toward Fire Capital leaving his team behind for a moment before they took off to follow him.

"Well, if we don't think he did it to give you the …. to give you power, then he must have done it because he had to," Sakura said as she finally caught up to her distraught teammate.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked while looking at Sakura curiously, his expression mirrored on Hinata's expectant face.

"Well if he didn't trap it in you to give you power, he must have been scared that it would get loose if he sealed it in himself." Sakura explained as if it was the only logical explanation.

"That sounds like the Fourth," Jiraiya mused.

"Huh?" Everyone but the sleeping princess perked up at that statement.

Jiraiya looked at his charges thoughtfully, making eye contact with each one before proceeding with his explanation. "The Fourth was very protective of the people he cared about. He spared no effort when it came to keeping people safe. I saw him work through sleepless nights and risk his life against insane odds if there was the slightest chance that the people he protected could come to harm."

"Are you saying that the Fourth was paranoid and he didn't have to stick this seal on me?" Naruto asked angrily.

"No, Naruto, the Fourth wasn't paranoid," Jiraiya explained. "He just couldn't stand the thought of the people he cared about getting hurt, so he did everything in his power to prevent it. A feeling I think you understand, Naruto."

"Yah, I understand it." Naruto sighed.

"Sealing something in the freshly cut umbilical chord of a child is one of the strongest sealing techniques there is," Jiraiya explained. "If the Fourth had even the slightest doubt that he could hold the Kyuubi this is what he would have done."

"But what's so great about some brat's belly button?" Naruto asked incredulously.

"I'm not completely sure, there are many theories as to why it's that way," Jiraiya said unapologetically.

But before Naruto could yell at his sensei Hinata's voice broke in. "Ano, a person's chakra circulatory system is always changing, especially as a person's body grows and becomes stronger. Your chakra paths could adapt to and grow around the seal making it stronger, especially with a seal like this one that's held by your own chakra. So a baby is the logical choice, since it would have the longest to live it would have the best chance of making the seal strong enough to keep the monster trapped even after it died." Hinata's voice explained hesitantly. "It's even possible that the K…k…kyuubi's chakra didn't used to leak into you, but that your chakra system grew into the gaps in the seal to steal its chakra."

Naruto turned away from his teammates as he pondered this line of reasoning. It made sense and he knew that it had to be the real reason the Fourth had done it. Besides, he actually liked the idea that his body might be stealing the kyuubi's chakra. He grinned to himself as he thought about it, but his teammates' inability to so much as say the Kyuubi's name in front on him wasn't lost on him either. He spent the rest of the trip back to the palace in silence brooding over what his friends had to be thinking about him.

* * *

Hanabi wore a wide grin as her cousin led her to the newly constructed training hall where her father was waiting for her. She was quite proud of herself for having the self control to walk calmly toward the building. She had seen it being built, but had no idea what it would look like inside because after the second day the walls had gone up and along with them had been seals to prevent spying on it's insides. The training halls all had them as did several other rooms in the compound. It would not do to have the secrets of the Hyuuga clan be stolen by enemies or allies. 

Her training sessions with her cousin Neji had been strenuous. Hanabi had never been so worn out, but inside she was pleased that her father was finally recognizing the full extent of her strength. She intended to prove to everyone that she was stronger than her sister and that talent and hard work would win over size and age. She would finally get out from under her sister's shadow!

The young Hyuuga had fire in her eyes as she approached the recently constructed building. Hanabi had never seen a building of its size build so fast. It had only been five days since it was started and though it lacked some of the finishing touches her father deemed it ready for her to train in. She stepped onto the porch that was still being sanded in preparation for the entire structure to be treated and finished. Neji opened the door for her and she walked in leaving her sandals outside. Instead of following her Neji simply closed the door to be on his way. Even he was not allowed inside to see the training his youngest cousin was receiving.

The inside of the building did not show any sign of needing to be completed as the outside had. The wood on the floor was glossy finished and smooth on her feet. She took a few steps forward and stepped off the wooden ledge that surrounded the room and down the flagstone steps to so she stood right in front of the massive pool of water that was the center of the training hall. She had been about to shout in outrage, how was she going to train in a bath, but was stopped by her own shock. Standing on the polished flagstone floor surrounding the pool she stared silently at her father, who was standing on the water at the center of the pool.

Hiashi stood still, repressing a grin, as he looked at the emotions playing across his daughter's face. For a moment the only sound was the muted sounds of the workers outside finishing the exterior of the building. He decided to speak when he saw his Hanabi's face turn thoughtful. "Haven't you figured out what your next task is?" Hiashi was amused.

"Walking on water," Hanabi replied simply.

"Then what has you so confused, did you think I wouldn't tell you how?" Hiashi asked jovially.

"You wouldn't have built this just to teach me one technique that I could have learned already if we had just gone to a lake. There must be more to it than that." Hanabi stated what she had deduced confidently.

"You do your family proud." Hiashi smiled at his daughter. "Yes, there is far more, but before it can begin, you must be able to walk to me."

Her father had then proceeded to teach Hanabi to expel chakra from her feet continuously at just the right level to hold her up on the water. The technique worked in somewhat the reverse of the technique she'd used to walk on the ceiling. It was also much more difficult. Not only did it require more chakra, but the level of chakra had to be controlled more precisely.

Hiashi watched his daughter stoically. He had to keep himself from laughing several times, but he did far better than his father had when he had taught Hiashi and his brother this simple technique. Hiashi's father had actually laughed so hard he'd been unable to stay above water himself. Hiashi had been worried that by standing here he would become bored, but with the amusement from his daughters initial failures and then the growing pride he felt as he watched her gradually improve, boredom wasn't going to be a problem.

His daughter had begun by tentatively placing her foot over the edge of the water and after several minutes of instructions and practice had began to walk toward her father, sinking and falling completely under the water several times. She was drenched head to toe by the time she made half way. But doing her father proud the young Hyuuga stopped half way and began practicing moving side to side. She had enough dignity not to try and approach her father before she had mastered the technique.

She now stood in front of her father sopping wet, but grinning mischievously. Hiashi smiled back at his daughter the gears in his head spinning. For a long moment the sounds of a lone hammer and the grinding of sanders was the only sound as the Hyuuga Clan Head plotted and his daughter relished her triumph.

The silence had apparently become uncomfortable for his daughter, Hiashi noted as he saw her expression shift uncertainly. But he smiled proudly after he saw that face shift to defiance, realization and then finally a triumphant smirk. She had undoubtedly wondered why he had not said anything and then become determined not to break the silence first. Then she had realized that he would not have stayed out here to supervise this simple training if he did not expect her to complete it quickly and have something else for her to do. Her patience and perception were improving rapidly. Both traits could win battles, both on the field and at the negotiation table.

"You do your clan proud Hanabi," Hiashi said proudly. "Now that you know this technique we can start your training for today." Other girls might have been crestfallen to find that they were only beginning when they had thought that they were done, but not his Hanabi. She had already come to that conclusion and was completely unsurprised. Grinning even more proudly than before; Hiashi stepped back into the Hyuuga fighting stance.

At this point however, Hanabi looked at him questioningly. "Why teach me this technique if all we are going to do is spar normally?" Hanabi asked.

Smirking for a moment before he stood up straight again, Hiashi answered emotionlessly. "Hanabi, the strength of a shinobi does not come from their muscles. A shinobi's strength comes from their skill. It is the most skilled ninja that wins a battle, not the one with the biggest muscles. Do you understand?"

"Yes father, but I don't…"

Hiashi's raised hand silenced his daughter. "Up until now you've fought battles where you only used one technique at a time. This exercise will teach you to concentrate and use your chakra on two things at once. I would expect any chuunin to be able to do this." He waited for his daughter to nod her acceptance before he continued. "Before you take the exam I intend for your control to be well beyond chuunin level."

"Hai /yes/." Hanabi replied excitedly. She had absolute faith in her father's ability to train and her own ability to meet his expectations.

Some time later Hiashi allowed himself a self satisfied grin at his genius before he forced his face into its normal stoic expression. His daughter had as he expected found it difficult to concentrate on her new technique and her fighting skills. Consequently she was now very wet and climbing back on top of the water. Either her fighting skills had degraded or her footing did. Not surprising for a Hyuuga, she had quickly learned to perform the technique from any part of her body that might hit the water as she was knocked down and was now getting the hang of it. Her concentration was improving.

He didn't show it but, Hiashi was very pleased with himself for coming up with this training regimen. Far superior to the silly training methods of his father; Hiashi's new training method would not only greatly improve his daughter's skill and concentration, but it had another purpose as well. One that quickly became apparent. By forcing his daughter to constantly expend chakra to stay on top of the water, she ran out much quicker. By the time the chuunin exam comes around her chakra capacity and her stamina will have increased exponentially Hiashi though to himself as he carried his exhausted daughter back to the compound. Leaving her with servants and instructing them to bathe and dry her, he left to begin his new training regimen.

* * *

Naruto had kept to himself for the three days they stayed at Fire Capitol before the anbu arrived. Despite the assurances from his teammates that they didn't care about his being able to use the Kyuubi's chakra, he still had difficulty facing them. He still spent his time body guarding Renjiro, but much to a white eyed young woman's disappointment he always managed to find a way to disappear every time he came near Keiko-san, where his teammates could protect him. This seemed to happen quite often as the two couldn't seem to get enough of each other. Hinata was never able to find where he went, but somehow he always managed to be back by the time the prince had finished courting the princess for the day. Hinata had hoped that he'd be late. Then all she'd have to do is go with Renjiro and not come back when Naruto showed up. Then she'd be able to spend some time with him. 

Alas her opportunity never arose. She was sitting in the gardens far enough away from Keiko and Renjiro to afford them some degree of privacy while still being close enough to protect them. She could tell that Naruto was hurting and it hurt her inside to be unable to do anything about it. And watching the two love birds wasn't helping any. She was considering ways to make Renjiro need to leave early when suddenly the palace seemed full of anbu.

A group of six anbu approached Hinata. Each wore Dark robes obscuring their complete forms from view. Faces hidden behind wooden masks the Anbu seemed completely inhuman. They brusquely informed the genin that they were relieved before taking up positions around the happy couple who were now looking nervously at the imposing newcomers. The one wearing an owl mask bowed to Hinata before holding out a small scroll with two hands. "These are your new orders from the Hokage, Hinata-sama," said the apparently female anbu.

Hinata took the scroll and bowed nervously in return though not nearly as low. "Thank you Anbu-san," she said before opening the scroll and examining its contents with Sakura leaning over her shoulder to read with her.

The message was congratulatory and Sakura recognized the sloppy scrawl as the Hokage's. Team Alpha was to return home. Renjiro and Keiko and several members of the Lord of Fire's family were each assigned a three man anbu team to guard them in their absence. Another anbu team was to pick up the bodies of the enemy ninja, which were currently kept under guard by the Lord of Fire's men. And finally another anbu team was assigned to track down the foreign prince and investigate the attempted kidnapping of the Lord of Fire's daughter. All told there would be a dozen teams of Anbu staying in Fire Capitol until the matter was resolved.

After reading the message the two girls informed their charges that anbu would now be looking after them. They were unable to escape before the princess hugged them both vigorously thanking them for everything they had done.

Neither kunoichi spoke until they were alone in the halls again. "I guess we should find the others," Sakura said simply.

"I'll find Naruto-kun," Hinata surprised herself with an abnormal show of bravery. What surprised her even more was when her suggestion was not even questioned by her teammate who agreed to find their Sensei.

Unfortunately for Hinata her moment alone with her blond teammate was not to be as he showed up before she was able to part ways with the other member of their team. "Hey, what's up with all the anbu?" Naruto yelled out as he jogged toward his teammates.

"We got a note from Tsunade-sensei telling us to go back home," Sakura replied. "The Anbu are to guard everyone and figure out what the cloud shinobi were up to."

"Are you sure it was from her?" Naruto asked as he finally came to a stop next to his teammates.

"It looks like her handwriting," Sakura replied simply.

"Hmmm…Let me take a look at it," Naruto asked with his face screwed up in a thoughtful expression, apparently unsatisfied.

Hesitantly Hinata removed the small scroll out of her pocket and handed it to Naruto who took it without hesitation. It wasn't until he started making small thoughtful noises that Hinata stopped playing back in her mind the feel of Naruto's fingers on hers and looked back up to see him reading the scroll. Finally free of her reverie she and Sakura both scrutinized Naruto's squinting face as he examined the message meticulously. He seemed to be going over several parts of it multiple times. By the time he was finally done both girls waited expectantly for what he would have to say. He had after all spent two years of studying with one of the legendary Sanin; he must have learned something about detecting forgeries if he took this long to examine the message.

Finally finished with the message Naruto looked up at his pink haired teammate. "Are you sure this is Tsunade-ba-chan's writing, it's so messy, I can barely read it?"

"Baka," Sakura yelled as she punched him on the top of his head and grabbed the message in one sweeping motion. "If you didn't know what her handwriting looked like, why did you even ask to look at it?" Sakura yelled before storming off in a huff.

Unfortunately for Hinata Naruto also took this as his cue to leave. "Well we better go and get ready to leave," Naruto said before leaving himself. Hinata couldn't help but notice that he didn't move with his usual happy go lucky spring in his step.

They were unable to escape Fire Palace quite that easily however. You don't become personal friends with the ruler of a county without gaining certain social responsibilities. They were able to decline another banquet with the Lord of fire, but not the royal send off.

Most ninja don't finish their missions with fanfare let alone crowds of well wishing onlookers. But somehow it seemed natural when you were around Naruto. Everyone seemed to want to see the ninja that had saved Keiko-hime. Naruto seemed to take great care to smile and wave cheerfully at everyone in the crowd. But the time for goodbyes came as they arrived at the gates of Fire Capitol. Keiko bowed to her two kunoichi body guards again and thanked them for saving her Renji-kun.

Renjiro stepped forward, wanting to talk to Naruto before he left, but Suki-hime beat him too it. She shuffled right past him and ran toward her Naruto-nii-san. In a repeat performance, she leapt into the air latching her arms around Naruto's neck. "Thank you for saving my onee-chan," the young princess said as Naruto squeezed her.

Setting the young princess down, he knelt in front of her so he could look her in the eye. But before he could speak the girl spoke again. "I'm sorry for not believing in you."

Grinning at her, Naruto ruffled the princes' hair. "Don't you worry about it, sometimes I'm so amazing I even impress myself." That comment had Renjiro stifling a sigh, but made the little princess grin. "Now you make sure that all the boys are good to you and if they aren't you let them know that I'll come back, alright?" Naruto said with a wink. Suki nodded happily before running back to her family.

Renjiro didn't think he would ever be able to get used to Naruto's antics with the princess, but as the Lord of fire hadn't called out any orders for someone to remove the impertinent ninja's head, he felt safe approaching Naruto.

Renjiro was still coming up with something fitting to say as a thank you, but the ninja spoke up first. "You'd better take good care of Keiko or I'll come back and do to you what I did to the other guy."

Renjiro was tempted to point out that the other guy still hadn't been found and Naruto hadn't so much as decked him. But considering the fact that according to how he told the story he had apparently blown up the guy who had actually snatched Keiko-chan and run off with her he decided not to push the issue. "Don't you worry, I promised Keiko-chan that I would spend the rest of my life trying to make her happy, and I would never break a promise to her."

Naruto was unable to respond before the Lord of Fire approached him, chuckling good naturedly. "And you'd better take care of your young lady too," the jovial ruler said.

"Don't worry Toshiro-ji-san," Naruto grinned as he extended his fist, thumb up. "They're both safe with me. I'm not the kind of scum that would let something happen to one of my teammates," Naruto said with a wink.

The Lord of Fire just smiled and chuckled to himself. He was sure the boy would figure it out sooner or later.

Not very far away, but out of earshot because of the noise the crowd was making Hinata was getting some similar advice. "Now you be sure to tell _him_ how you feel," Keiko-san told her. "And if your father has any problem with it you let me know, and I'll use all the political pressure I can to make sure he accepts him."

"Thank you," Hinata said quietly and simply. Seeing Keiko-san's love for Renjiro-san overcome the political marriage that her father had arranged reassured the young Hyuuga heiress. It gave her hope that maybe she too could find a way to marry the man she loved despite her father. She left Fire Capital with a new determination and hope in her heart.

Sakura however left the conversation with quite a different determination in her heart. She was determined to find out who Hinata's mystery man was and make sure he got together with Hinata. She spent most of the trip home plotting and scheming. Jiraiya couldn't help but notice how much her insane chuckles resembled her sensei's of a week prior.

Unfortunately for Hinata however, once they had left Fire Capital and the Lord of Fire's family Naruto began to slip back into his previous melancholy state. She tried to bring him out of it, but every time she would talk to him he would put up that fake smile of his and answer her in as few words as possible.

Even though it was the indomitable inner strength he used to make that smile that had first attracted her to him, now that she had seen his genuinely happy face she wanted to do anything that was in her power to let him wear a genuine smile. It hurt her to see him plaster that fake smile on his face, especially when it was for her. She didn't want him to ever need that fake smile for her.

Eventually Sakura had noticed how strange it was that Hinata was talking more than Naruto was and she joined in trying to get more than three words at a time out of Naruto. Eventually they got him talking again and once he finally opened up, he spent the rest of the trip talking more than everyone else combined. Part of Sakura was sorry she'd done anything, but the other half was glad that her teammate was back to his normal loud and idiotic self.

* * *

They had barely made it through the gates before they had been escorted to the Hokage's office by a pair of anbu. The anbu had stayed in the office along with a tall menacing Jounin who wore his hitai-ate like a bandana over his bald head to cover scarring even worse than what could be seen on his face. The anbu and the head of Konoha Intelligence, Morino Ibiki were apparently there to do more than guard as they listened unabashedly as Tsunade debriefed Genin Cell Alpha. 

Tsunade seemed to ask about every detail. And while Ibiki seemed to take everything in with a cool and calculating composure the anbu seemed to be making a show of being unimpressed. Everything had been going relatively smoothly until Naruto had told Tsunade about his part in setting up the duel for Keiko's hand.

"You put the person you were supposed to be protecting into a fight for his life?" Tsunade thundered at the young ninja that had just re-earned the title of Konoha's most surprising ninja. The two anbu couldn't restrain themselves from laughing behind their masks. Ibiki couldn't help but grin at the sheer, unmitigated ingeniousness of it. His eyes twinkled as he though of all the ways he could have used such a crazy stunt to his advantage. The bingo books of several countries didn't call him crazy for nothing after all.

"Tsunade-ba-chan, there are times you have to fight for what you want or you'll spend the rest of you life wishing you had." Naruto replied sagely. "And he had to fight for her or he was going to spend the rest of his life wishing he did."

"He might have been killed," Tsunade said even more loudly.

"It was just a fist fight," Naruto said noncommittally in return.

"Did it ever even occur to you that the other guy was going to cheat?"

And for the first time in this lecture Naruto began to grin. "Of course it did, that was part of the plan." For the first time, Tsunade was stunned speechless. The anbu just started chuckling even more loudly. And Ibiki somehow managed to look even more maniacal than before.

"Once that stuck up cloud guy started trying to kill Renjiro all I had to do was jump down and stop him and Toshiro-ji-san would see how bad he was and kick him out." Naruto continued as if it was the most obvious of tactics in the world. Hinata, who had been blushing in embarrassment about what Naruto might say about her as her part of the story came up, suddenly became dejected. She'd ruined Naruto's plan.

"And what about the other ninja?"

"I wasn't worried, if they jumped in, we'd just finish them off too," Naruto said lazily waving them off.

One of the anbu couldn't take it anymore. "Idiot! Those were three class A missing ninjas. They were all jounin before they left the cloud. If it wasn't for you're having one of the legendary Sanin as your sensei you'd have all been killed!"

"What?" Sakura yelled, angry for the first time. It was one thing to laugh at one of Naruto's crazy plans. She had been upset about it too. But she had fought that Tin Plated weakling and she wasn't going to be beat by some ninja whose fighting skill came from his armor.

"Ero-Senin was too lazy to help us," Naruto yelled out. "And we didn't need him to beat those cloud bozos!"

The anbu was going to voice a denial when he was silenced by a glance from Tsunade and the sound of her knuckles popping. "So did it go as planned?" Tsunade asked menacingly as she turned back to Naruto.

"No, it went even better," Naruto announced happily. "Somehow Hinata was able to figure out that it was one of the Ninja impersonating the cloud guy and jumped in to stop him before he could even beat Renjiro up!" Naruto looked genuinely pleased with the outcome.

Naruto's loud comment managed to bring Hinata out of her reverie and cause her to start blushing at his warm praise just in time to meekly answer the Hokage's question of how she'd done it. However she was only able to mutter that she'd seen the real prince hiding in the building with her Byakugan.

Sakura had gone on to explain that after watching the supposed prince fight Hinata she'd realized that he fought too well to be the prince. Then once she'd recognized the fear jutsu that that old samurai looking bandit had used and dispelled it she'd noticed the real Lightning Country prince peeking out the door.

From there Tsunade's questions had become even more detailed about the battle with the three ninja. Things were going without a hitch despite Naruto's unwillingness to explain exact techniques he had used, when the anbu from before lost it again. He refused to believe that some genin could be fast enough to defeat the speed of a special jounin from the Cloud's Hakumei clan. Only the Fourth Hokage was that fast.

They finished the debriefing down one anbu. They would have been down two if the Hokage herself hadn't ordered the other one to stop his attempt at attacking the pink haired kunoichi that had knocked his partner out for suggesting that they were all liars.

The debriefing had concluded with Tsunade congratulating cell Alpha on a job well done and awarding them each with several bonuses for the extra body guarding, the successful rescue of the Lord of Fire's daughter and for disposing of 3 missing ninja's.

Naruto had to be forced to take the money. He didn't believe he should be paid for protecting his precious people, which he'd do anyway. Tsunade had tried to explain that ninja missions were always about protecting people in some regard, whether it was body guarding or capturing the people that hurt other people. When that had failed she'd threatened to not pay him at all because his normal job was still protecting people and he was so set on doing it for free. Despite all that in the end they still had to force him to take the money.

It had turned out that Ibiki and the other anbu had been there to get the story about the 3 missing ninjas. They were the ones responsible for examining their bodies and discovering their secrets. Each member of cell Alpha had spent the next day describing their battle in even more detail to Ibiki and his team to help them understand the cloud ninja's fighting techniques and skills.

Naruto had been upset about the whole thing and stated that it made Konoha as bad as the cloud. Ibiki had been furious and explained that Konoha never authorized the kidnapping of children to steal blood limits or blackmail politicians, but apparently the cloud was willing to do both! Three enemy ninja had entered Fire Country with the intent to harm it's people and Ibiki intended to make sure that the ninja of Konoha were prepared as best they could to defeat any further enemy and if that meant studying the bodies of dead ninja, he was going to do it.

Naruto hadn't liked it but had been placated. After his initial interview they hadn't wanted much more with him. He didn't think the anbu believed his story anyway. Unfortunately Hinata's unique perspective kept her tied up with them for three days. So Naruto ended up training alone while Sakura trained with Tsunade until they finally let Hinata go.

* * *

They were finally going to go on their second mission as a team and Naruto thought it was great. It was going to be physically demanding, but not very difficult. So it was great training and would be a great opportunity to help them learn to work together better. They were doing construction work. 

They were working on some big building that Naruto couldn't remember what it was for. The foundation had been dug the day before by a genin that could control dirt and mud. So when cell alpha arrived they found the _building_ they were working on was little more than a hole with cement drying around it and metal and wood poking out in places.

The construction workers had been very impressed with the last genin team's impressive ability to get the foundation dug. The young man had dug in minutes what they had expected to take a couple of days. But the team had consisted of that young man and two girls who just weren't suited for a day of heavy lifting so they had requested a different team be sent by the Hokage. They were disappointed to see that their replacement team consisted of an old man, a boy and two more girls.

The foreman had a nasty taste in his mouth that had nothing to do with the fact that he hadn't been able to find his brand of cigarettes that morning, when the old man introduced his team and left them in his care before leaving. He was scowling when he ordered the team to unload a truck full of large beams that would be used for the framework of the building and distribute them to several strategic locations around the site. That scowl only deepened when he was done yelling out his orders and he began to think about how he was going to yell at the Hokage for sending him a team so unfit for menial labor. His scowl however seemed to be physically wiped off of his face by some unseen hand when the obnoxious blond boy that he was sure was going to wear himself out and be useless by the end of the day slung three times what he expected his strongest laborers to be able to carry and bounded off while the pink haired girl shouted something to him about pacing himself.

Had the foreman been an animated character his jaw would have been hanging down below his beltline when he saw the shy waif of a girl pick up about half of what the first boy had and begin to trudge away with it. Being only human however he was unable to keep the cigarette in his mouth with it that far agape. It took him a couple of minutes to answer the question the pink haired girl had asked while putting on her gloves.

The young woman was pulling out boards before the question even registered. He tried to look thoughtful to cover his shock. Watching her warily he was both relieved and disappointed when she only took a grown mans load of lumber. "Yes, make sure to get lumber to each spot so the framers can start right away," the foreman told the young lady's retreating form.

Sakura hadn't ever really done much that involved heavy lifting and had never needed to carry lumber. She wasn't surprised to see Naruto, Mr. Stamina walk off with a near truck load over his shoulders, but after seeing how much Hinata was able to carry she was surprised by how heavy wood could be. With her precise chakra control and Tsunade-sama's strength technique she could easily throw the truck, lumber and all, to the other side of the construction site. So she was surprised when Hinata could carry significantly more than she could. But Tsunade-sama's technique was only good for short bursts of strength and with the crazy jacket Hinata sometimes wore Sakura had to accept that for long tasks like this Hinata was stronger than her.

After watching the three working the foreman soon realized that he'd have to stop smoking as he couldn't seem to keep a cigarette in his mouth while watching these three. When he wasn't suffering from slack jaw he found himself unable to stand because of the laughter. He quickly determined to hire them for the next few days.

The foreman wasn't the only one to notice the power of these ninja. They couldn't have been working for more than an hour when several workers approached Naruto _requesting_ he tone it down, because he was making them look bad. Anyone who is familiar with construction workers and the way they generally request things can guess how this went over with Konoha's number one loudest and most surprising ninja.

Naruto had knocked each of the offending workers on their backside and was halfway into his speech about how giving everything he had was part of his ninja way when he went from standing up straight to lying face down plastered into the cement in under a second.

"We're supposed to be helping these people, not beating them up," Sakura yelled angrily before she politely bowed and apologized to the other workers. Sakura didn't seem to notice the looks of terror in the eyes of the men as they graciously assured her that there wasn't a problem. Whether they were more afraid of Sakura's incredible strength or the fact that Naruto climbed out of the impression he had made in the solid cement floor, we may never know. But no one was willing to complain when they had to pour cement back into the Naruto shaped impression in the foundation.

Hinata however got a different reaction entirely. Mesmerized by her strength and beauty she became the topic of conversation all over the site. Some of the workers that weren't scared away by her distinctive eyes didn't even stop when she was working near them. Barraged by overheard comments about herself and even a few one liners and bad pickup lines Hinata couldn't help but blush profusely and begin to work more slowly occasionally dropping things. This however only made the laughter and comments worse.

It didn't take very long for Naruto to see what was going on. After hearing several men's suppositions about some of Hinata's more personal proclivities where not only he could hear, but she could as well Naruto snapped and told them to knock it off in no uncertain terms. Hinata was a lady after all.

Rather than asking if Naruto was deaf, because of course they were talking about a lady or even threatening the upstart teenager these hardened construction workers immediately bowed and offered their sincerest apologies to the young lady. And from that point on they did their best to be perfect gentlemen in front of the young Lady Hyuuga. Many went on to treat every woman they ever met with much more respect.

To this day when asked each of those men would say that they were touched by the stirring words of the boy who claimed he would be the 6th Hokage one day. However his words were likely made more stirring by the fact that when he yelled at them he was carrying four times as much weight in lumber than any one of them hopped to ever be able to carry.

Afterward the worksite became unnaturally quiet as no one dared speak around the ninja. It was if a foreboding cloud covered the area. Even the sound of hammers seemed muffled. When suddenly a shrill scream rent the air and the orange clad ninja dropped the truckload of wood he was carrying and ran, yelling ouch the whole way. Work came to a crashing halt as not a single man could restrain his laughter at Naruto's childish antics.

After running to meet her teammate Sakura was enraged when he told her he'd gotten a sliver. 'And I had actually been worried about that idiot,' her inner voice raged as she told him to take the sliver out himself. His cries about her being a medical ninja fell on deaf ears. She hadn't studied Medicine for three years to pull out slivers after all.

Amidst the construction worker's laughter Hinata's quiet voice surprised her fellow ninjas. "I'll take it out Naruto-kun," she said quietly. Shocked silent Naruto turned toward his other teammate. He hadn't heard her come up, but then again he'd been screaming and had a sharp pain in his hand.

Wordlessly Hinata reached out and pulled Naruto's open hand toward her and knelt down forcing Naruto to follow. Blushes colored both of their cheeks, but after a few moments of shy embarrassment and a close inspection of her beloved's hand she saw a splinter in his thumb. Then ever so gently she removed the offending piece of wood from his hand using a needle and some tweezers from her sewing and medical kits she kept in her pouch.

Hinata was about to apply some of her ever present homemade ointment to the wound when Naruto spoke up. "Thanks Hinata that feels a lot better, but could you get the one in my hand?" Naruto requested as he began to slowly remove the black wraps on his arm revealing a piece of wood red with blood just barely jutting out from his palm.

After a few moments of shock Hinata opened her byakugan and began to carefully remove a splinter of wood the size of a 10 penny nail from the blond ninja's palm.

Grinning widely Naruto thanked Hinata profusely as he immediately began to wrap his hand and wrist. But Hinata held fast to his hand stopping him so she could apply her ointment, which was both a disinfectant and analgesic. The wound seemed to close on contact.

Sakura was shocked but was interrupted as she began to question Hinata bout the ointment. "The ointment is good, but that was…him," Naruto said quietly and gravely.

"It heals you?" Sakura asked in a whisper, but clearly surprised.

"When I die, so does he," Naruto said simply as he stood up and began to walk away, rewrapping his hand and wrist quickly.

"Well you should wear gloves if you don't want something like that to happen again," Sakura said loudly to Naruto's back.

"Nah, it's alright, a real ninja doesn't worry about little things like that," Naruto said gruffly.

Somehow even though they couldn't hear what was said everyone working at the site seemed to be able to tell that something significant was happening. Consequentially a silence uninterrupted by even a single hammer fell over the site. So when Hinata squeaked out Naruto-kun's name everyone including Naruto stopped and strained to hear the quiet girl.

"Naruto-kun, please wear some gloves. Even if you…if you heal really fast, it would…it would make me sad if you got hurt."

Touched by his teammate's plea and seeing the glitter of the tears forming in Hinata's eyes, Naruto knelt down and gently wiped away her tears with the untied portion of his hand wraps. "That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me," Naruto said to the girl who was now beginning to blush and look at him hesitantly. "I'll put on some gloves, OK?"

Hinata nodded and thanked him.

Like all such moments this one passed and work continued. By the end of the day even Naruto had to slow down. No one was about to complain as he was easily doing the work of two men. Hinata continued working steadily if quietly, but everyone was particularly kind to her, often smiling and winking at her as if they knew something she didn't. Many even offered strange word of encouragement like, "You go get him," and "You'll show him," and even a few "were behind you all the way," 's.

Sakura unfortunately had the worst. No one gave her any trouble and they were definitely polite to her. Though it's unlikely that Naruto had anything do with that, at least nothing he _said_. But unused to this kind of work and definitely not dressed for a day in the sun, she was about ready to pass out due to heat exhaustion. And for some reason when the foreman announced that he had arranged with the Hokage to have them continue to work with him for three more days she seemed the only one who was displeased.

Well to be honest Hinata didn't really say a thing about it, she just stood there and smiled at Naruto who was jumping up and down in excitement. "I'll get even stronger," he chanted as he ran around in circles holding his hands above his head.

'Darn stamina freak,' Sakura thought. He still had energy to run around and she was about to collapse. Not only that, but she was sure he could go home, but she was going to have to buy new boots. She needed something without high heels. Her ankles were killing her.

The foreman had a much different thought. 'If he wants to get stronger I'll have to have him push the back end of bulldozer in reverse!"

The next day started much the same, except for Sakura. Instead of her dark tight fitting clothes complete with high heeled boots that she usually wore, she wore light loose fitting clothes complete with workers boots and a red T-Shirt tied just above her stomach. She may have had to make some concessions to utility, but she refused to look any less than her sexiest.

Naruto and Hinata both dressed the way they usually did, complete with jackets. Looking at the clear sky Sakura could tell that it was going to be another scorcher. How did they survive wearing coats in this weather?

It wasn't long before Sakura found herself sweating like a pig. This day was fast proving to be hotter than the day before. Even Hinata had unzipped her jacket to try and keep cool, though she had left the last couple of inches zipped. Sakura grinned to herself thinking of Hinata's shyness. It took her a few minutes to realize that Hinata had to be really hot if she was willing to unzip her jacket at all.

The young medic-nin was resting by the water cooler, trying not to make the same mistakes as yesterday when the realization struck her. Filling two cups with water she decided to find her soft-spoken teammate.

When she found Hinata, Sakura could tell that she had been right. Sweat was dripping of the shorter girl's forehead in sheets. Convincing her teammate to set down the boards she was carrying and drink the water she had brought, Sakura told Hinata to be sure to keep herself hydrated.

"And in this heat, you really need to take off this jacket…" Sakura had already finished unzipping the offending article before Hinata had finished the last of the water. She didn't have time to resist before Sakura started moving the jacket off the shy girl's shoulders. "You don't want to get heat STROAK!" The last part came out as a surprised yell as she dropped Hinata's coat. Her yell was accented by the loud crunch of boards being snapped by the jacket's weight. The scene was enough to draw the attention of most of the construction site.

"You're still wearing that **_crazy jacket_**?" Sakura screamed in shock.

Now those who hadn't been attracted to the loud crunch and Sakura's yelp couldn't help but notice her scream. Fortunately Hinata had opted to wear something that covered her better than that tube top had. However the conventional one piece Ninja Uniform she was wearing was far more form fitting that Hinata would have liked under the circumstances. And as the crowd of construction workers gathered around the two kunoichi they could tell that Hinata had plenty of _form_.

After several moments of fidgeting, trying to move her arms into a position that would hide her shape, Hinata finally managed to mutter something in the affirmative.

"You'll wear yourself out doing all this heavy lifting and wearing that thing." Sakura could see that her teammate was more self conscious than concerned about her own health. "You didn't wear that thing yesterday did you?" Sakura asked, hoping to use another track to dissuade her teammate from hurting herself.

"Yes…" Hinata replied unable to meet her teammate's eyes.

"See you…." Sakura's eyes bugged out as her jaw dropped. "You did?" Sakura yelled, obviously shocked.

Reduced to stuttering and yammering, Sakura was unable to respond to the worker who yelled out. "Let her wear the jacket if she's so uncomfortable without it," said a man that the entire work crew suddenly suspected was gay. That notion wasn't dispelled when he fell on his butt trying to pickup Hinata's jacket.

"What…Why do you wear that crazy thing when your doing heavy work like this?" Sakura asked breathlessly.

When Hinata didn't seem to be able to answer, Naruto spoke up. "That's the point," Naruto said as he walked through the crowd that gathered. Everyone moved to let him through despite the view.

"That's how weight training makes you stronger."

'Hasn't he ever heard of a bench press?' Inner Sakura raged. They both must have spent too much time around Lee, she figured. Hinata had a similar enough hair style, if she had thicker eyebrows….

Sakura was spared from her painful reverie by two topless young men that had been making great shows of showing off their muscles every time Sakura or Hinata would pass by them. "If she values strength so much, let her wear it," the two said as they attempted to lift Hinata's jacket. Between the two of them they managed it but were having trouble walking with it. Their obvious strain drew laughter form the crowd.

"What's so funny?" Naruto asked angrily as he walked toward the two struggling teenagers. Thanking them he took the jacket with one hand, shook the dust of it and slung it over his shoulder as if it were a common windbreaker. Seeing that they'd lost, the two shirtless men fell to their knees and began to bawl. A few of the older men that had seen the antics of the now crying young men couldn't help themselves and began to laugh even louder.

Naruto just ignored them as he walked over to Hinata and helped her put her jacket back on. The action made Hinata weak in the knees, but no one noticed.

It took Sakura nearly a full minute to recover from the incredulity of the situation and for the second time Sakura bemoaned her fate of being on the same team as two certifiably crazy people. Seeing she'd lost that battle for now she decided to work on her other teammate. "And what about you Naruto? It's too hot to be wearing a jacket, you'll get heat stroke."

"Nah, I'm fine. See this is the same jacket I wore yesterday and I was fine then." Naruto didn't give his teammate time to argue and walked off. Seeing that the show was over the crowd began to disperse.

'They're both crazy,' Sakura thought to herself as she cradled her head in her hand. Then, remembering the day before she had an idea. Moving toward her remaining teammate Sakura whispered in her ear, asking her to get Naruto to take his jacket off.

The request was almost too much for the young woman who was still recovering from the affects of having been touched by the man she loved so fervently. Hinata almost passed out.

Misinterpreting her teammate's wooziness, Sakura tried to encourage her friend. "It won't be that hard, Naruto listens to you," Sakura said reassuringly.

Her thoughts still filled with images of a bare-chested Naruto, Hinata finally managed a yes. But it took her an hour before she was able to make her first attempt.

Deciding to try the straight forward approach she managed to stutter out her concern and requested he take of his shirt, err... jacket. His warm smile as he assured her that he was fine distracted her from continuing on that track.

Later she tried to use the same trick Sakura had used on her. She brought him some water but the pat on her shoulder he gave her as he thanked her distracted her from her goal.

Normally two failures would have been enough to depress the young Hyuuga, but filled with images of Naruto's chest Hinata was emboldened and tried several more times to get Naruto out of his shirt. But each time Naruto's charms managed to stop her dead in her tracks until finally they were through for the day. Somehow despite her failure she couldn't feel dejected over it.

* * *

Even construction crews take weekends off and so Genin Cell Alpha found themselves with a couple of days of free time. And Sakura intended to make the most of it. For this task she had enlisted the help of her sometime rival sometime cohort Yamanaka Ino. They were meeting at that den of estrogen, that warren of teenage angst, that coliseum where women both young and old both prepare for and do battle, the mall. They had met there early to ambush their intended victim. At least that's what Hinata felt as she approached them. 

Sakura grinned manically as she saw her teammate approach. With the help of an expert consultant, Haruno Sakura LD is going to save this shy young woman's love life by turning her into a heart stopping goddess that her reluctant lover won't be able to resist! The poor sap won't know what hit him.

"Are you ready?" Sakura yelled excitedly.

"Ready?" Hinata asked uncertainly and more than a little afraid.

"Remember what Keiko-san said?" Sakura began to move closer to her intimidated teammate. "Well, when we're done with this make-over no boy will be able to say no to you," Sakura said, leaning forward and grinning excitedly in Hinata's face.

"Yup, Naruto won't know what hit him," Ino said as she leaned over Sakura's back and gave Hinata the victory sign with her fingers.

"Naruto?" Sakura's asked incredulously, her body now ramrod straight causing Ino to bounce off.

"You planned all this and didn't know?" Ino asked surprise evident in her voice now.

"How would I have known," Sakura retorted.

"She's like, only had a crush on him since _forever_."

"What?…. When did….How did…?"

Seeing her coconspirator had been reduced to incoherent babbling, Ino turned her eyes onto the target of her complete fashion makeover-no-jutsu. "Come on," she said as she grabbed Hinata's hand.

Unfortunately for Hinata she was still too caught up in the implications of how many people knew her secret. When she came back to herself she was in the back of a clothing store having her measurements taken.

* * *

Sakura took a little bit longer to come back to reality. During her mental voyage to determine what any woman could see in Naruto she had taken a trip down memory lane and arrived at the Konoha Ninja Academy. But there her memories turned painful as she remembered the love of her life; the man that had left her to fulfill his revenge. 

Wiping away a tear from her eye Sakura realized she'd been left behind and rushed into the mall. She found her friends in a clothing store. Hinata was having her measurements taken. She heard Ino telling her something…

"Well you don't have to worry too much; all we have to do is make you prettier than forehead-girl…."

"What!" Sakura exploded. From there the conversation quickly deteriorated as lightning sparked and the fight ensued.

On the other side of the mall in the back of an arcade that just happened to share a wall with the security station pandemonium ensued. Boys that had been left in the only male-safe zone in the mall stared at the screens intently, while older men who had been abandoned here by women that had forced them to come with them placed bets on the latest cat fight. Yells of, "You don't have to take that," "Pound'em", and "Get her," could be heard several stores away. Just to the side an angular faced young woman with straight, shoulder length brown hair smiled wickedly. It was after all her most profitable business venture yet.

This fight however never came to blows, but those who had witnessed the fight's intensity would likely never forget it. The two combatants finally calmed down, sweating and short for breath. Hinata stood red as a tomato behind them.

"All I'm saying is…that the only person Naruto has seemed interested in…is you," Ino said between breaths. Ino leaned closer to her pink haired friend and began to whisper conspiratorially. "I say we find some pants that'll keep Naruto walking behind her…and let her keep the jacket since she's not as…big up top."

Sakura was reluctant to respond, but if this operation was going to be successful, the Love Doctor couldn't be selling her patients assets short. "Well actually…"

Hinata couldn't tell what her two companions were whispering about, but some how she knew that it wasn't good. She was considering the implications of sneaking out when they pounced. Hinata never saw it coming, before she knew it her jacket was on the floor.

Ino was speechless; shocked to see the big guns Hinata kept concealed under her jacket. Even the gay guy that had been taking her measurements seemed to be impressed. Sakura felt a little jealous as her inner voice raged about the injustice of shy girls that would never use them getting all the luck. But she had to admit to herself that the only boy she wanted to be paying attention was nowhere to be seen.

Ino went into overdrive as the girls began to discuss _strategy_. Though, Hinata didn't seem to be able to offer much. She would say two words, usually "I couldn't," or "My Father," before she was interrupted.

It was during this _discussion_ that Sakura realized something. "You know it's strange, but Naruto hasn't hit on me lately," Sakura interjected out of nowhere.

"Well you've been on a pretty serious mission," Ino replied off handedly.

"That wouldn't have stopped him before," Sakura replied before Ino could steer the conversation back to fashion strategy of seduction.

"Maybe he's changed," Ino replied

Before Sakura could voice her doubts Hinata broke in with her longest sentence of the day. "Um…Naruto-kun told me that he didn't think that you could love him because of…" Hinata spoke very hesitantly, and even more quietly.

"What?" Sakura yelled. "I told him I didn't care about that! That f…." Sakura had to stop herself from saying the _vulpine_ word.

"What about that fool?" Ino asked. She could tell that the other two girls knew something she didn't.

Hinata stood silently. Unfortunately for Sakura, silence was so normal for Hinata that no one would expect her to answer anything. That left her to answer Ino's question glare. "Well…uh…you see," Sakura stuttered out. "Well actually it's classified."

"What could be classified about Naruto?" Ino asked too loudly. "I mean he's just a genin."

The last comment struck a nerve in Sakura. She was unhappy about her current status as a genin, even if it was just a ploy. No one was going to suggest _she_ was weak, just because she was still a genin. "Oh, really," Sakura began. "Then if he's a genin, you won't mind fighting him then?"

Sakura would never forget Ino's face. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights. But before Ino could say anything she was interrupted by a newcomer.

"If you do, I just want to see the look on Lee's face when he finds out that Naruto got back and fought a girl before he fought him." Tenten couldn't help herself and started to laugh at her own joke.

Sakura couldn't take any more and fell down laughing. She couldn't decide which was funnier: Ino's look of terror or the crazy antics she could imagine Lee going through as he challenged her.

Once the laughter died down the girls chatted briefly before Tenten got to the point and asked what they were doing. Ino and Sakura grinned mischievously as they explained they were helping Hinata catch the eye of a certain someone. However they were not prepared for what happened next.

"You're doing it all wrong!" Tenten exclaimed as she grabbed Hinata and began to drag her away. Her jacket left forgotten on the floor. Fortunately there weren't many thieves strong enough to lift it so it was fairly safe where they left it.

Sakura and Ino followed clueless around several corners and through a door before Tenten finally stopped in the largest Lingerie store the girls had ever seen. "If a girl wants a guy to think she's sexy, she has to feel sexy!" Tenten announced, and then dragged the girls deeper into the store.

Hinata was again unable to resist. She found she couldn't think clearly surrounded by so many things she could never imagine herself wearing. And if Naruto saw her in… Her cheeks which had been such a rosy color since she entered the mall, became a much darker red

"Naruto's a lucky guy," Tenten commented after she gave Hinata an appraising look.

"You knew too!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Every body knew," Ino Said, "even Shikamaru did."

"So, Shikamaru knows everything," Sakura replied

"He doesn't know that, that girl, Temari from the sand asked Hokage-sama for him specifically to be her personal escort every time she's here." Ino retorted.

Hearing her name Temari walked toward the gaggle of girls grouped together. She had left Shikamaru at the front door of the shop. The sand kunoichi thought it was cute how he didn't have the courage to come inside with her. She'd tease him about it later. Unfortunately it wouldn't be as good as the teasing that she would have given him if he'd have come in though.

"What are you girls up to?" Temari asked abruptly.

Seeing who it was Tenten immediately explained that they had a friend who was having trouble getting a boy to notice her, so they were trying to get her something that would giver her confidence. Temari however was unimpressed. Harrumphing at the girls' childish antics, the blond woman decided to explain to them how an adult woman would handle this type of situation. Looking at Hinata she spoke calmly. "If the boy won't notice you, why don't you just take him out to your forest, throw him on the ground and have your way with him?" Temari asked as if it was the most obvious thing.

The red color that had been growing on Hinata's cheeks suddenly expanded to cover her entire face and neck. Her fingers that had been fidgeting in front of her were now being used to loosen her collar. Steam would not have seemed out of place rising from her neck.

Sakura was shocked. She wanted to yell at the sand kunoichi that that wasn't how things were done here in Konoha, and Hinata was a lady. But none of it managed to come out and she was reduced to incoherent muttering again.

Ino and Tenten were taking it the best, but both were speechless. Ino came back to herself first, though not because of any great amount of mental fortitude or control. She heard her name being called.

Looking to the side Ino saw Mrs. Nara, Shikamaru's mom, walking toward them wearing a friendly smile. "Ino-chan, what are you and your friends doing here?" she asked. Caught red handed, Ino stated they were trying to help a friend with boy trouble and explained Tenten's theory. She didn't dare tell someone that knew her own mother about Temari's advice. She'd be married before she could go out unchaperoned.

Looking at each girl, Mrs. Nara picked out Hinata's cherry colored face. "It's you isn't it dear," she said kindly as she walked up to the blushing girl. "Here's what you do," she began before she leaned in close and began to whisper into the shy girl's ear.

If Hinata could have blushed any deeper she would have. But by the time Mrs. Nara had stood back up, and patted her shoulder Hinata's eyes were glazed over and she was no longer steady on her feet. When the older woman finally turned and began to walk away with the parting words of "good luck dearie," Hinata couldn't take any more. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she passed out.

* * *

End Chapter 6….for now 

I had originally intended to cover the entire period between the Fire Capital Mission and the chuunin exams in one chapter, but I got concerned that it would be too long. So I decided to divide it into two. This isn't where I intended to stop, but because the chapter has been taking so long, I decided to post what I had so far.

Thank you to my proof readers who helped me fix several grammatical mistakes and make a few spots a little easier to understand.

For those of you who asked for more fluff, I hope this qualifies. Now that the story has been established and time passes we'll see more of Naruto and Hinata's relationship progressing. If this didn't qualify as fluff, you'll have to define what you want better, as I apparently don't know what you mean by fluff.

I'm working Sunday's this month and where I work that means sitting in front of a computer waiting for something to happen that's not going to happen. So hopefully I'll be able to get the next chapter out considerably faster.

As always my response to reviews will be in the review section. (Just look for the incredibly long review by KlosetAuthor.) And I will try to keep everyone up to date on the story status in my profile.

* * *

Please stay tuned for Hinata's Story: Underneath Your Clothes, Chapter 7: You might get it, or Teddy Bears and Snakes 

Naruto and Hinata get a taste of family life and someone even scarier than the Kyuubi may change their lives forever.


	7. You Might Get It

Hinata's Story: Underneath Your Clothes

Chapter 7: You Might Get It

* * *

Disclaimer: See chapter 1 and don't charge anyone to read this story, you might get more than just money.

* * *

All weekends end too early for most people, but for Hinata this one couldn't have come fast enough. The beginning of the new week had Cell Alpha back working at the construction site and after three days the building that had been weeks behind was well ahead of schedule. 

A genin's life could be very boring, but not because of lack of variety. In the following weeks Naruto and company found themselves collecting honey for a beekeeper, tracking down several dozen bunnies that had escaped from a breeder, putting up shelves in a library, and separating male and female chicks in a chicken coop. However, even simple tasks are not without their dangers as Naruto seemed to perpetually learn or forget, depending on how you looked at it. Surely it wasn't his fault that he didn't know that beekeepers wear a special outfit to protect themselves. And how could he have guessed that his orange jacket would make him look like a giant carrot, it had certainly helped gather the bunnies in the end though. Then how was he supposed to know that you could tell the difference between boy and girl chicks by their feathers; that farmer girl didn't have to hit him like he was some type of pervert. And how did that librarian expect him to hammer quietly.

But now they were faced with their greatest challenge as a team: babysitting. Naruto didn't hear who he was babysitting for or why, because he was to busy muttering complaints about his perverted sensei. He should have known better than to say something like that to make a girl angry. And he was still cursing his sensei under his breath as he walked with his teammates to their latest assignment. Said pervert wasn't even there to escort them. He was probably already out peeping.

Naruto didn't even notice when he started to rub his sore shoulder. It had been hurting him since he finished training the day before and hadn't gone away, even after a good night's sleep. That almost never happened to him.

His suffering didn't go unnoticed by his teammates. "Are you ok Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked only slightly hesitantly.

"Oh, I'm fine," Naruto said grinning a little too widely and speaking a little too loudly to be completely telling the truth.

"Did I do that?" Hinata asked a little more hesitantly.

"Nah, don't worry about it," Naruto waved her off. "It was Ero-senin's fault for making you mad like that."

"Mad?" Hinata said questioningly thinking back to the day before.

She and Naruto had been training with Jiraiya-sama. Hinata had been elated to be able to spend some time with just Naruto-kun. Well, it had almost just been her and Naruto-kun. But she had trouble fighting him if it meant hurting him. She was very careful not to fight him any harder than she knew he could defend and their sensei had noticed.

"You know when he's on a mission he's going to be attacked by people that want to kill him, not kiss him," Jiraiya-sensei had yelled bringing the fight to a screeching halt.

Hinata's heart almost stopped as all the blood in her body seemed to rush to her face. She could feel the heat radiating off her face when she managed to look up from the ground to see how her Naruto-kun would react.

Her shoulders had quivered in fear as she slowly turned to face him. Would he think she was weak for not having the courage to tell him herself? Would he reject her? Was she too shy or too dark or weird for him to ever accept? All these fears and many more raced through her heart as she turned to face her beloved teammate.

The poor girl's heart plummeted into her stomach when she saw Naruto-kun's bewildered face. Her fear of rejection moved back to its home in the back of her heart, but for reasons she couldn't understand the shy young woman felt more disappointed than relieved. Her train of thought was interrupted by her new sensei before she could figure out why she felt that way.

"He won't get stronger if you don't fight him with everything you have," Jiraiya continued before Naruto could question him. "If you love him, don't hold back."

Those words struck a chord in Hinata's soul. For a moment she couldn't stand straight because of the thought that she could lose the one she adored, because she didn't help him become as strong as he could become.

The next moment Hinata felt a fire burning in her veins and as it spread outward from her heart it took away all traces of fatigue from her body. She was determined that no one would ever take her Naruto-kun away from her; at least not because _she_ had failed him! Fueled by that fiery determination Hinata split the air with her battle cry as she exploded into action, turning to attack Naruto-kun before their sensei could even tell them to continue.

Hinata had fought long and hard. She was still fighting with Naruto-kun when Jiraiya had left them. They had trained well into the night until Naruto-kun had to help her drag her tired body back to her home. She had worked herself to near exhaustion before, but some how it had felt different this time. The passion in her heart had somehow allowed her to work longer than she could have before. She knew that this was what Naruto had been feeling so many times when she had watched Naruto train himself into the ground.

Remembering the events of that night, Hinata blushed as she and her team resumed their trek toward their latest assignment. Despite what Naruto-kun had though she hadn't been mad. In fact she was thankful to their sensei for the opportunity she had to know a little of what it felt like to be Naruto-kun.

Thinking back about it she found she liked what she was when she was like Naruto-kun. She wanted to become more like him so that she could be the type of girl he would love. But more than that she wanted to be like him, because she felt that then she could love herself more. And she felt determined to never do anything that would let people take her Naruto-kun away from her.

* * *

When team Alpha finally got to the door Sakura decided she had better take charge. She obviously couldn't let Naruto take the lead and Hinata wasn't the take-charge type of person. 

She could already tell it was going to be tiring being the responsible person on the team. Naruto would try to take charge, but he was too crazy. And Hinata would probably agree with anything he said just because she liked him. Well at least now she knew why Hinata was so crazy. She was letting Naruto influence her too much. Sakura figured once she got them together she was going to have to make sure Naruto didn't make her as wild as he is. Well, no good deed goes unpunished after all.

Sakura knocked on the door gently but firmly. Taking care of a child is easy enough, but part of good babysitting is making the parent feel comfortable so that meant a smile. So despite her annoyance that someone of her talents was being wasted on a babysitting mission, Sakura placed a friendly smile on her face while her inner voice raged.

The door was opened by a young woman that couldn't have been thirty yet. Her fair complexion contrasted sharply with her dark eyes and shiny black hair that fell down her back in sheets, reaching a couple of inches below her shoulders. Her smile must have been why her husband married her. She was pretty and well endowed, but her smile seemed so innocent and so caring that it could melt even the stoniest of hearts. After seeing it, Sakura found that she couldn't be upset about babysitting if she was doing it for her.

Kioko was pleased to see the two girls at her door. Girls were naturally better at babysitting and so many genin teams didn't have a single girl on them. She must have gotten very lucky to get a team with two. Then she saw the boy that was on the team. It was _that_ boy.

Both girls noticed the change in the woman's face. Hinata followed the cold look in her eyes to see her blond teammate acting oblivious to the older woman's scorn. Closing her eyes and swallowing Hinata braced herself before she spoke up. "Ano, Naruto-kun is very good with children," Hinata said nervously and a little rushed.

Looking slightly confused at the exchange Sakura glanced back at Naruto before she turned to Hinata. "Well that's just because he's really just a big kid himself." Before Hinata could reply Sakura turned back toward their client to reassure her. "Don't worry if we can keep him in line, your kid won't be any trouble," Sakura said, widening her smile even more.

The young mother didn't seem completely convinced, but she forced a smile on her face despite her reservations and stood aside to allow the genin to enter her home. She gave Naruto a guarded look as he walked past her.

* * *

It wasn't long before cell alpha found themselves alone in their client's living room. Kioko-san had given them several flustered last minute instructions before she left them with her baby, who was currently taking a nap. 

With the worried mother gone, not to return until late that night, the three genin found themselves left to their own devices in a strange living room. Each sat quietly lost in their own thoughts. Naruto found himself rubbing his still sore shoulder. That was when Sakura noticed it.

"What happened to your arm Naruto?" Sakura asked eyeing his shoulder analytically.

"Ah, it's nothing, I just hurt it practicing," Naruto said before looking away. But he didn't stop rubbing his shoulder.

"Maybe I better take a look," Sakura replied as she began to get up.

"NO!" Naruto yelped as he turned back around, his free hand reaching out to ward his teammate off. Unfortunately Sakura was a little closer than she had been when he turned aside so his hand nearly contacted with her chest.

Jerking his hand back as if he'd touched something scalding hot, Naruto pressed himself into the couch he'd been sitting in and began flailing both hands in a defensive gesture. Though for some reason he kept them very close to his body. "I…I… mean it's no big deal…. It'll be fine tomorrow," Naruto said frantically.

"Are you sure?" Sakura asked with her sweetest smile. Boys were such babies about getting medical treatment, but that wasn't going to stop her.

"Yah, normally it would be fine after getting a good night's sleep." Naruto looked down, suddenly turning somber. Naruto still didn't feel comfortable talking about his unnatural healing abilities. The subject was too closely related to the Kyuubi.

Naruto was still confused about why the good for nothing fur ball hadn't fixed his shoulder. Maybe it was because he hadn't slept well the night before. Every time he had gotten to sleep, he'd woken up with images of those eyes looking at him: Hinata's eyes.

The truth was that even now that they were on the same team, Naruto seldom got to see Hinata's eyes. The shy girl that she was, she was usually looking down or away from him. But when he did see them they were soft and filled with kindness. But yesterday they were filled with passion. He'd seen that focused fire in here eyes twice before, but it had never been directed at him. But now that he'd seen it, he couldn't stop seeing it. Every time he'd looked at his usually timid teammate, he kept seeing the tigress trapped inside her. It was distracting.

Apparently oblivious to the ramifications of her teammate's sudden sullenness and distraction, Sakura saw an opening and dove in. Naruto had unzipped his jacket part way down so he could rub his shoulder under his shirt, so after a couple of hand seals it was a simple matter for Sakura to slip a hand through his open jacket and under the black T-Shirt he wore underneath to get to his shoulder. Naruto was so distracted that he didn't seem to notice. That just made it easier for Sakura to make her diagnosis.

What Sakura _saw_ with her diagnostic jutsu surprised her. The tendons and ligaments in Naruto's shoulder were healing at an abnormally fast rate, but not with the kind of speed she'd expect from seeing the way his cuts had instantly healed. Judging by how fast it was healing and its current state she guestimated that it would finish healing by the end of the day.

Then it struck her. If this injury had happened yesterday and still looked this bad after healing at the rate she was seeing, then it must have been severe. The baka had probably seriously injured his shoulder then kept training. It was a good thing they had such an easy mission today or he'd probably make it worse instead of resting.

Sighing to herself, Sakura resigned to check his shoulder again tomorrow and make sure they got another easy mission if it wasn't healed yet. It was that sigh that drew Naruto out of his reverie and made him aware of his surroundings, including the pretty girl whose eyes were closed leaning so close to him.

Yelping suddenly Naruto jerked himself away from one teammate only to slide down the couch and bump into the other. This time both yelped and moved away from each other slight blushes appearing their cheeks. Though due to Hinata's skill at blushing, '_slightly'_ left her cheeks considerably redder than Naruto's.

Sakura took it all in stride as if nothing unusual had happened. "Well it looks like your all right, just take it easy on that shoulder for a while," Sakura said in her most professional tone.

"Uh…Ok," was all Naruto could stammer out.

"I can probably make something we can put on that shoulder that will help with the pain," Sakura continued. "But I'll need…"

"Ano," Hinata showed rare courage interrupting someone. But if her Naruto-kun was hurting, she couldn't sit still and do nothing. "I have something that could help," she said softly as she reached into her jacket pocket for one of her ever-present healing ointments.

Turning to her other teammate Sakura grinned to herself. The gears in her head started spinning; cranking out a plan. "There you go Naruto." Sakura couldn't take the grin off her face. "If you're nice, maybe Hinata will rub that into your shoulder for you." _'The Love Doctor is in the house!'_ Inner Sakura screamed.

Hinata nearly dropped the jar she was handing to Naruto. In order for Hinata to rub the ointment into Naruto's shoulder, he'd have to take off his shirt. If Naruto took off his shirt then Hinata would be able to see…and then she would have to touch him… Hinata didn't think she could handle it. She tried to say something but words wouldn't come out.

"It's all right, I can do it myself," Naruto replied as he took the ointment from Hinata's trembling hands.

"Actually Naruto, it really needs to be rubbed in everywhere, it's best if someone else does it," Sakura replied smoothly. The love doctor wasn't going to be beaten that easily.

"It'll be all right, I've been doing stuff like this for myself for years while I was on the road training with Ero-Senin. So if Hinata doesn't want to, I can handle it myself."

"Hinata wants to, don't you Hinata?" Sakura winked at her.

With both her teammate's eyes on her, Hinata was finally able to get sound to come out of her mouth. Unfortunately what she managed to sputter out was completely unintelligible.

Turning away from his obviously embarrassed teammate, Naruto gave Sakura a disapproving look. "I don't think that Hinata's that kind of pervert, Sakura-chan," Naruto said reprovingly.

Sakura took a menacing step forward and took a deep breath as she clenched her fists before she stopped herself. There was a baby in the house after all. "It's a medical treatment, not some kind of sick fetish," Sakura said between clenched teeth, before she stormed out of the room as quietly as possible.

It had taken Sakura a little while to calm down, but looking at the baby, who miraculously enough had slept through all the commotion, had helped. Sakura couldn't believe that Naruto, the creator of Sexy-no-jutsu, had the gall to suggest that _she_ was a pervert. She's a doctor not a sex-fiend! Besides girls aren't perverts, only boys are.

She had been trying to help him and that idiot had been too dumb to figure out that Hinata likes him, despite all the signals. It was so completely obvious and that moron hadn't been able to tell. It was unfortunate that Hinata hadn't been able to give Naruto the rub down, but it looks like he might have been so clueless that he wouldn't have noticed.

If Naruto was too dumb to notice if Hinata made the first move, maybe she could get him to do it. But no, right now if he made the first move, Hinata would probably just pass out and Naruto's ego might not be able to take that. This was going to be a difficult case to cure, but Haruno Sakura the Love Doctor wasn't going to be beaten that easily!

* * *

Meanwhile, across town from where Sakura was refusing to be beaten by Naruto's stupidity, another genin team was starting another boring genin mission. Hanabi stood in the large living room of her well to do client's home. It was nice enough, but the floor was littered with children's toys. Their client had greeted them jovially and rushed out moments later, leaving Hanabi and her teammates in this room. Standing between her teammates, Hanabi found herself in a staring match with the _young mistress of the house_. 

The young mistress stood with her bare feet spread wide and her fists grinding into the sides of her denim short pockets glaring back at Hanabi. The small girl wore what looked like a pair of overalls that had been the bottom just below the chest cut off. Hanabi supposed it was supposed to be some sort of halter top to match the shorts. Not that the little girl was old enough to have anything to show off with an outfit like that. Hanabi couldn't complain, because she had yet to develop in that respect either. The girl looked up to both sides at Hanabi's older and taller teammates.

Hanabi hated feeling short. She was a child prodigy who had become a genin when she was nine. Now two years later her teammates were still older and taller. Consequently she was constantly looked down on as too young to be a ninja, or even worse, she was completely overlooked. She refused to be treated as an inferior ninja by this little girl.

"What are you doing here?" the little lady asked while whipping her head to the side to flip her long golden braid of hair back over her shoulder and turning to glare at Hanabi.

"I am one of the ninja whose job it is to look after you today," Hanabi said between clenched teeth.

"Yeah right, I bet your parents were just too cheap to get ninja of their own to baby-sit you," the impertinent child replied.

"I do not need a baby-sitter, I'm a Nin-Ja," Hanabi hissed back.

"Sure," the girl waved dismissingly. "And I'm a princess, and this is my castle. You can be my maid."

"I am Hyuuga Hanabi of the Hyuuga Main House. I will one day be the head of the entire Hyuuga clan." Hanabi announced boldly while straightening to her full height and puffing out her chest. "I am not a servant!" Hanabi made sure to keep her head level so that she was looking down at the impertinent brat.

"Ok, I'm Kimihoshi would you like to have tea," the young girl said hopefully.

"Tea?" Hanabi asked questioningly. "You are familiar with tea ceremony?" Somehow Hanabi doubted it.

"No, silly," the girl giggled, "a tea party."

"Tea Party?" Hanabi asked questioningly leaning down a little closer to the strange girl.

"Yeah, a tea party. First everyone sits down, you pour the tea and you talk to all of the guests." Kimihoshi sighed and shook her head. She couldn't believe she had to explain it like she was talking to a boy.

"Guests, what guests?" Hanabi asked confused.

"You, me and my dollies," Kimihoshi replied excitedly.

"I'll have to decline," Hanabi said coldly.

Exasperated the little girl crossed her arms and pouted. "Fine, we can play ninja."

"I am a ninja, I don't _play_ ninja." Hanabi replied coldly. She'd have put her hands on her hips but her teammates were standing to close to her.

"Oh really?" Kimihoshi had seen plenty of girls Hanabi's age and none of them had been ninjas. She knew you had to be 12 or 13 to become a ninja and some people didn't become one until they were even older. "If you're a ninja, than how many people have you killed?" Kimihoshi smirked, knowing that she'd caught the older girl.

"I've never gone on a mission where I was ordered to kill anyone," Hanabi said through clenched teeth. The fact that despite her talent she'd gotten nothing but easy/safe missions for the years she'd been a ninja was a sore spot with her. How was she supposed to prove her worth if she only got easy missions?

"Huh, some ninja," Kimihoshi sneered, turning her nose up at the obviously lying girl. "If I was as big as you, I bet I could beat you up."

"Maybe when you've earned one of these," Hanabi pointed to the Hitai-ate hanging from her neck, "we'll get the chance to find out." She was about to take a step forward when Kei-san touched her shoulder.

Kimihoshi seemed unfazed. "That's a fake."

"It is not a fake," Hanabi replied, shocked that anyone would suggest that she would wear a fake Hitai-ate.

"If it was real you would wear it on your head, not like some necklace." Kimihosi and Hanabi both looked at the other two ninja in the room. Both of whom wore their Hitai-ate on their forehead and both of whom were trying not to laugh. "It's not just some jewelry you know," she continued. "A real ninja wears their Hitai-ate on their head proudly. It's a symbol that shows that they are willing to give everything that they have to protect their village, their country and all the people in them."

Hanabi didn't care to be lectured by the meaning of being a shinobi by someone that had never even entered the academy. "I am a Shinobi of the Leaf, but I am a Hyuuga first. And Hyuuga of the main house cannot wear anything over their forehead." Hanabi spoke in her most firm and commanding voice.

"Your no fun," the young girl pouted as she turned around. "You can go play ninja by yourself," she yelled as she stomped off loudly.

"Just a minute," Hanbi yelled firmly, before the girl could get too far away. "While I'm here there will be a few rules."

Kimihoshi whipped around and ran back to the now yelling Hanabi. "You can't…" she stopped when she looked up at the biggest ninja of the group. She'd seen him trying not to laugh, but now he just looked down at her and nodded his head.

"She's really…?" Kimihoshi began. Suraido, the only male member of his team, just looked down and nodded at the shocked little girl. Kimihoshi looked back up at Hanabi and glared challengingly.

Hanabi had one finger held in front of her, pointed in the air. "One, there will be no stomping or running." Kimihoshi opened her mouth to protest, but Hanabi raised another finger and cut her off. "Two, there will be no yelling."

"You can't…" Kimihoshi began to say whinily.

"No back-talking," Hanabi's face and voice both became more stern.

Unable to take anymore, Kimihoshi's face began to screw up.

"No crying," Hanabi added coolly as if to stop the little girl who appeared ready to do just that. "And put away your toys, I'm sure they don't belong in this room."

Kimihoshi really was ready to cry when the third member of the team squatted down to her level and put her hands on the distraught child's shoulder. "Hi, I'm Kei, lets pick up this room together," she said cheerily.

Kimihoshi looked at the other girl questioningly for a moment before she wrapped her arms around the ninja's neck and started to cry. Hanabi watched embarrassed as Kei-san hugged the crying girl and whispered comforting things to her. She'd never seen anyone be so affectionate in public and never with a stranger. She wanted to turn away, but instead raised her eyebrows questioningly, while looking imperious.

She didn't understand what Kei-san was doing. Children after all need to learn to stop crying and grow up. Crying never got them anything. It had definitely never gotten Hanabi any hugs or acceptance or praise. Those had to be worked for.

* * *

As soon as she got back Sakura took Hinata into the kitchen to have some girl talk. Naruto had wondered what girls talked about when they were having girl talk, to which Sakura had replied that if they wanted boys to know about it, then it wouldn't be girl talk. Then she'd been shocked when Naruto just nodded his head sagely as if that had been the answer he was looking for all along. 

Taking one quick glance back out the kitchen door to make sure that Naruto wasn't trying to listen in Sakura left the door slightly ajar, so she'd be able to see him if he tried to get close.

"Hinata, that was the perfect opportunity," Sakura squealed quietly. "He'd have taken off his shirt and everything," Sakura continued her rant apparently oblivious to the Hinata's growing redness. "Why didn't you say you'd rub his shoulder for him?"

"I…I…I d…d….didn't…th...th…thi…" Hinata couldn't look Sakura in the eye and was reduced to stuttering incoherently. But even though her words didn't come out Sakura heard everything she needed to know what she meant.

"Oh honestly Hinata, what are you going to do if he kisses you?" Sakura asked the poor shy girl. It took her a couple of moments to realize that Hinata's rigid posture and completely glazed over eyes meant that she wasn't going to be able to answer. It gave a pretty good impression of what she'd do though.

Hinata wasn't given time to recover from her mental meltdown naturally. She was drawn from her reverie by the sound of a baby crying. By the time the baby had let out his second wail both girls had jumped into action. Sakura had thrown open the door just in time for Naruto to barrel into it face first at a full tilt run.

Naruto made sure he was the first to enter the baby's room. Seeing something looming over the baby's crib Naruto jumped into the air tackling it and landed with a soft thud on the far side of the crib.

Sakura came in second and immediately approached the baby who had been crying. Hinata followed immediately after and switched on the light. The baby, no longer crying, was making quiet cooing or maybe giggling sounds as he looked through the bars of his crib at Naruto.

Once the light had come on, Naruto had been able to see that the attacker that had been standing menacingly over the baby's crib was just a stuffed animal. He stood up slowly with one hand behind his head; the other was holding the fuzzy black cat he'd tackled. His embarrassed expression only seemed to make the little baby giggle harder.

Rather than scold him Sakura looked down at the squirming infant. "Kano-kun, is Naruto being silly?" she asked in her deepest voice as she leaned over the side of the crib. "I think he is!" she said playfully as she lifted the baby boy's shirt and blew a raspberry on his stomach causing him to squeal.

"You don't have to keep telling him that," Naruto whined. Sakura, however just looked at him, chuckled and returned to playing with the baby.

"I..I don't think she meant anything by it, Naruto-kun," Hinata said quietly only to get a blank look from Naruto-kun and a "huh." "She was just playing with the baby," Hinata replied. Naruto still didn't understand.

Hinata was trying to come up with a way to explain the situation to Naruto, who obviously hadn't been around babies before, but was interrupted by the sound of a baby crying. They both turned around to see Sakura holding the now crying baby.

"So that's what's wrong," Sakura whispered conspiratorially to the still crying baby. Naruto shivered when she turned to look at him. He couldn't say what, but there was something menacing in her gaze despite the smile on her face.

"Naruto," Sakura called in her sweetest voice. "Kano-kun needs you."

"Kano-kun?" Naruto asked confused.

"The baby!" Sakura said exasperated, "Didn't you pay attention to what his mom told us before she left?"

"Well I usually…" Naruto began to mutter quietly, looking anywhere but at his teammates.

"Well here," Sakura interrupted, holding the baby out under Naruto's nose.

"What do you need me to do?" Naruto asked as he took the baby.

"Change his diaper," Sakura said with a smirk as she began to walk away.

"B…But I…" Naruto began to sputter out.

"Naruto," Sakura interrupted and turned back around. "Would you want a couple of strange girls looking at you like that?"

"Well no, but…"

"Right," Sakura said, not letting him continue. "Since you're the only boy here, then you'll have to change his diaper," Sakura said simply and turned to walk out.

"But I don't know how…" Naruto finally got out.

Sakura paused until Hinata spoke up. "It's all right," she said softly. Naruto sighed in relief. "I'll help," Hinata said as she slowly guided Naruto over to the changing table.

Sakura felt a little guilty for roping Hinata into changing the baby. She'd known Naruto didn't have much experience around babies; otherwise her trick wouldn't have worked. But she hadn't thought about the possibility that he would never have changed a diaper before. It wasn't exactly neurosurgery, but this was Naruto after all.

Sakura watched the two of them changing the baby's diaper from a safe distance. After seeing Hinata slowly and quietly teach Naruto, Sakura thought the Hyuuga girl had the patience of a saint. She would have clobbered Naruto when he pulled out a kunai /knife/ to remove the diaper, but ever gentle Hinata had merely pushed it away and showed him how the diaper detached at the sides. She'd even blushed and looked away when she'd touched his hand.

Sakura had never seen anyone that was so happy to be changing a diaper. Hinata smiled the whole time as she quietly corrected Naruto and ensured that he handled the baby gently enough. Sakura was sure it had to be some trick of the light, but Hinata even seemed to glow.

* * *

Meanwhile, while Hinata was getting a taste of her dream to one day raise children with Naruto, Hanabi was having a nightmare. First she'd had to pick up jacks to keep from stepping on them and then it had been tacks. She'd had to catch a glass jar before it hit the ground when she opened the refrigerator. But it was when the tripwires had started to spring up that she'd known something was wrong. 

Now that the little bundle of trouble hadn't been heard for a while it fell on her to find out what the little runt was doing in her room. She should have checked with her byakugan. That's what she thought after she had opened the door and gotten some gooey mixture of something dumped on her head. She'd yelled at the little brat, but the she-devil had just laughed and jumped out the window. She was long gone by the time Hanabi got to it.

* * *

After what was probably the slowest diaper change in young Kano-kun's life, Hinata carried him to the living room; Naruto following close behind. An eerie quiet filled the living room as Hinata sat the baby on her lap. Little Kano-kun just stared at the three strange people that he'd found in his house. His head moved back and forth between them as he watched them, innocent wonder evident on his face. The three ninja all watched him back in a not so dissimilar way. 

Kodak moments like those don't last forever, especially with people of varying attention spans. "So what does he do?" Naruto asked, shattering the silence and shocking his female companions. Kano-kun must have thought it was funny, because he just giggled.

"What do you mean, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked hesitantly.

"Well…" Naruto began rubbing the back of his neck. "Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon would want to play ninja or practice jutsus or something, but what do you do with a baby?"

The two girls just looked at each other, not sure how to explain it. They each seemed to want the other to try it. Hinata's reputation for silence saved her again. "Well I guess mainly you have to watch them and make sure they don't hurt themselves," Sakura began her shaky explanation. "And when you play with them you do things like bouncing _lightly_ or play simple games or just talk to them to try to make them smile or laugh…"

"Oh…OK…" Naruto murmured thoughtfully as he walked behind the loveseat Hinata was sitting on with little Kano on her lap. "Hey Kano-kun," Naruto began as he leaned over Hinata's shoulder. Fortunately for Hinata, Naruto and Sakura were both standing behind her, so only Kano-kun could see the color of her face, as it turned pink due to Naruto's nearness. She could feel his breath on the side of her face.

"A Genin walked into a bar…" Naruto began his joked when Kano began to laugh prematurely. Confused, Naruto straightened up and turned to his teammate. "Hey, Sakura, why did he start to laugh, I haven't even got to the punch-line yet?"

Hinata and Sakura couldn't keep themselves from laughing, though Hinata was trying significantly harder. Then Kano decided to join in for good measure.

"What's so funny?" Naruto asked. "Why is everyone laughing?"

Able to hear the slight pain in Naruto-kun's voice Hinata stopped laughing. Kano-kun however apparently thought it was hilarious and kept giggling. Sakura hadn't completely stopped chuckling herself when she answered her teammate. "Naruto, Kano-kun isn't old enough to understand what you say?"

"But you said to talk to him and try to make him laugh?" Naruto replied confused.

"What you say doesn't matter, you're supposed to smile and say things in silly voices or make funny faces or something like that."

Hinata might have added something, but half way through Sakura's comment she felt Naruto's breath in her hair, as he turned back toward the now silent but smiling baby. "Silly voices…?" Naruto asked, his face screwing in confusion. He'd seen parents playing with older children outside, but he'd never really seen anyone doing anything but dotting on babies and it was all kind of new to him.

"Well you seem to be a natural," Sakura replied after Kano-kun had started to giggle again.

"Thanks Sakura…," Naruto began before what she meant sunk in. "Hey!" Naruto said, more shocked than upset as he turned back to face her.

"He seems to like your voice, maybe you should hold him," Sakura said, deflecting her teammate's bruised feelings.

The ploy was effective. Shocked and perhaps a little nervous at the prospect of holding a baby, his head jerked back toward the little one. Kano just looked up innocently from Hinata's lap and smiled at him toothlessly.

Hinata, who had been unsuccessfully trying to find something to say to soothe Naruto-kun's bruised ego after Sakura had teased him, suddenly had her mind go numb when she felt Naruto's arms around her as he reached for the baby. She wasn't able to hear Sakura's instructions to him, because her mind started to shut down as Naruto lifted the baby off of her lap. She might have liked to help teach Naruto-kun how to hold a baby safely, but she was currently lost to the world.

"You know I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable being with a boy that likes the sound of my voice," Naruto said half to Sakura and half to the grinning baby. Little Kano's only response was a single giggle when Naruto bounced him slightly, as he shifted the baby in his arms.

Sakura had to sigh. "It's not like that Naruto," she began to explain. "Kano-kun probably spends all day with his mom, and probably doesn't hear a boy's voice as much, so when you talk, it sounds different than what he hears most of the time."

"Oh, that makes sense," Naruto replied a little too quickly, making Sakura suspicious if he really did understand. "That's right!" Naruto said excitedly to the baby in his arms. "Kano-kun's gonna be a big ladies man, I can see it already. The girls will be chasing him everywhere he goes."

"They'll be saying…" Naruto switched to his best impression of Sakura's voice. "Kano-kun! Can I sit next to you Kano-kun? Will you go out with me Kano-kun? Can I be your girlfriend Kano-Kun?"

Fortunately Naruto's impression of Sakura's voice wasn't very good. So instead of knocking Naruto into next week Sakura just laughed with the now wildly giggling baby. She'd seen other girls act just like that over Sasuke. Though _she'd_ never been that crazy.

Naruto's voice changed to one of mock seriousness, drawing Sakura away from her reverie about all the things she'd seen silly girls do to get to her Sasuke. "Now, Kano-kun, if some girl ever comes up to you and asks you to marry her or let her have your child…."

Naruto couldn't have chosen a better time for his dramatic pause as both of his teammates gasped at once. "You run away!" Naruto exclaimed gaily as he bounced the baby in his arms and took several quick steps to on side. Kano-kun loved it and squeaked in appreciation.

Hinata had a great deal to be proud of. Not only had she not fainted at Naruto-kun's sudden contact, but she'd come back to her senses halfway through Naruto's rant about Kano-kun's eventual suitors. Blame it on her perceptive nature, but unlike her teammate, she knew exactly whose voice Naruto was impersonating. And though a part of Hinata secretly wished she had the courage to ask Naruto-kun those questions, she tensed waiting for her other teammate to lose it.

And Hinata's fears may well have come true if Sakura hadn't once seen a girl a year or two older ask Sasuke the same question. After seeing that her pink haired teammate wasn't going to attack Naruto-kun Hinata sighed with relief, while Sakura raged in her mind against the tramp that had had the audacity to try and give Sasuke a peek down her shirt as she asked to have his child. Fortunately no one had ever asked Sakura if she'd have used the same ploy if she had at the time been more well _endowed_. Consequentially we may never know.

Completely oblivious to the melodrama in his teammates' heads Naruto continued. Seeing how much little Kano enjoyed the motion he continued to espouse the virtues of a tactical retreat as he swished back toward his teammates and then spun as he moved away from them again.

Kano-kun's peals of laughter drew Sakura away from her inner diatribe in time to see Naruto turn his ear toward the giggling baby he held. She completely missed Hinata's rapt stare and the mild blush on her cheeks. Naruto did too as he nodded his head thoughtfully as if Kano had been telling him a secret.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto called out after he turned to face her. "Kano-kun says he thinks he needs dancing lessons."

"That's a good idea, Naruto," Sakura said slyly as she sauntered around the love seat Hinata sat on. "You'll help us, won't you Hinata?" Sakura asked smirking. Normally Hinata's stuttering inability to reply would have gotten her out of a situation like this, but Sakura had already placed a hand under the shy girl's arm and lifted her out of her seat. A slight push later and Hinata found her self stumbling into Naruto.

As the daughter of a noble house Hinata had been trained in most of the traditional arts. She had been trained in etiquette, tea ceremony and most types of traditional dance. Her instructors however would have been appalled at the way Hinata stumbled around, unable to keep herself upright without leaning into Naruto, while Sakura stood by his side walking him through a basic dance step. Normally Hinata would have done her senseis proud, but with her hands on Naruto-kun's shoulders and his hand on her hip, the hand that would normally have grasped her right was holding up Kano-kun in-between them, Hinata found it difficult to concentrate on standing up, let alone a simple dance step.

Sakura however thought it was brilliant. No matter how dense a boy was he was bound to be captivated by having a girl's best assets pressed up against him. Indeed if she'd have paid a little more attention she'd have noticed that Kano-kun was enthralled.

* * *

Hanabi finally found the little brat when she walked back into the living room drying her hair after having to clean out all of the goop the little monster had gotten stuck in her hair. She was clinging onto Kei's leg as if to keep herself safe from Hanabi's wrath. 

When Kimihoshi saw the anger in Hanabi's eyes she gripped Kei's leg even more tightly. But once she saw Hanabi wasn't going to attack or even yell at her Kimihoshi set out her lip defiantly or perhaps petulantly and declared that she was hungry.

This took Hanabi by surprise, but not wanting to show any weakness she immediately took charge. "What do you want?"

"Ramen."

Without missing a beat and with almost military precision Hanabi twisted on her heel and headed into the kitchen. She was the daughter of a noble house and of course she knew how to cook. It was a necessary part of a lady's upbringing. And though she was a shinobi Hanabi was still a lady. It never occurred to her that most kunoichi were just as well trained as she was given the need for kunoichi to be able to act as normal women of any station during espionage missions. It definitely never occurred to her that many were more well trained than she.

Hanabi descended on the kitchen like a storm. Loud banging and crashing sounds could be heard as cabinets opened and closed and pots and pans were moved quickly. Cooking was just like any other battle and Hanabi fought to win.

Ramen isn't the most difficult dish to make and after several minutes the storm that was Iron Chef Hanabi quieted down. Kimihoshi chose just that moment to appear suppressing a smirk. "I changed my mind; I want beef and potatoes instead."

Hanabi smirked. She wasn't beaten yet. "Alright…" she said smoothly, the gears turning in her head visible through her eyes. The secret to ramen was making the broth. It would be no problem to strain the meat and other ingredients and fry them in a pan while cutting up potatoes to bake. Grinning manically Hanabi set into action and soon the kitchen was filled with bangs and crashes again as Hanabi rushed back and forth in the kitchen.

Kimihoshi would have liked to have witnessed her handy work first hand, but listening to it would have to do. She couldn't stay in the kitchen or she would have been trampled by the ninja girl as she ran back and forth across the kitchen. So she sat in the living room, waiting for the kitchen to quiet down again.

After the initial flurry of action Hanabi sighed contentedly. What had once been Ramen was now going to be some of the best beef and potatoes she'd ever cooked if she did say so herself.

It was at that exact moment that Kimihoshi chose to come back into the kitchen trying her best to smile like an angel. It came off looking more like the smirk of a devil. "Potatoes take too long to cook, I want ramen instead."

Hanabi just laughed. The girl had played right into her hands. It would be simple to put the meat back in a broth, she'd been trying to figure out what to do with it anyway, and the potatoes would cook faster if she fried them. Besides what little kid doesn't like fried potatoes?

Hanabi's explosion of activity forced Kimihoshi back into the living room where she smirked happily. Suraido was just as amused. It had taken a while, but he had been forced to admin that Hanabi-chan was just as capable a fighter as Kei. She handled herself reasonably well and kept up with the rest of the team, but Suraido knew that she was just too young to be able to manage as a genin. If this little girl could manipulate her, this easily what would happen on a real life or death mission? It never occurred to him that he had no idea what she should have done instead.

Kei couldn't believe Hanabi had actually let Kimihoshi convince her to change what she was cooking. It was obvious that she was just going to keep her switching back and forth to make her work harder. She would have put a stop to it if she had realized that Hanabi would actually fall for it. But now she didn't know how to tactfully put and end to it, but she knew she had to.

So when the Kitchen quieted down again Kei followed her young charge into the kitchen. She was unsure how she was going stop this without causing a screaming match. Fortunately she didn't have to.

Hanabi might have jumped into action when Kimihoshi said she'd had an apple and wanted beef and potatoes now, but she'd been lied to and it stopped her dead in her tracks.

Hanabi was good at detecting lies, so when she saw the way the little girl rubbed her nose as she spoke and the way her shoulders were tensed as she tried to act casual she knew that something she had said was a lie. Using some of the Hyuuga techniques for remembering details she realized there were no apples sitting out in the house, nor did she see any apple trees in the yard. She also noticed the girls gums were devoid of the slight swelling she'd expect to see if someone had been chewing something as firm as an apple. It only took a couple seconds more for her to determine what the little brat had been up to and decide how to act.

Smiling as sweetly as she could manage Hanabi spoke. "I'm sorry, but dinner is almost ready and we're having Ramen and fried potatoes."

Hearing the almost sweet sound of the girl ninja's voice, Kimihoshi knew she was busted, but she wasn't ready to give up. "But beef and potatoes is better!"

Hearing the little girl whine Hanabi decided she couldn't let the brat win. "It's too late, I can't change it."

"Then start over."

Hanabi had been tricked, not once but twice now. Out of patience she yelled: "We're having ramen for dinner and you can eat it or you can be hungry!" The rest of the little girl's whining fell on deaf ears as Hanabi turned her back to her and continued cooking.

* * *

Naruto had finished cooling the bottle. He was supposed to be warming it, but as soon as he'd left the kitchen tossing the too hot to handle bottle between his hands Sakura had screamed at him and demanded that he cool it down enough so it would be safe for the baby to drink. He had just finished cooling it off but keeping it warm, just like Sakura had told him to, but she still looked ready to yell at him when he came out the door. 

Thankfully his nice teammate, Hinata got up first and carried Kano-kun over to him. She told him to squirt a little on his wrist to test it and didn't even laugh when he dropped the bottle because the milk was still too hot inside. Sakura wasn't so understanding.

After gently picking up the bottle, Hinata lead Naruto back into the kitchen, while Sakura was still laughing. Once there she helped Naruto cool his arm and the bottle with some ice.

Naruto's arm healed at its usual unnatural rate. By the time Hinata said the bottle was ready Naruto found himself holding Kano-kun while Hinata coached him on how to hold the bottle and the baby so Kano could drink it.

Naruto didn't know how he got roped into this job, but something about the way Hinata smiled at him and the baby wouldn't let him refuse her anything. He couldn't put his finger on it. Usually when someone smiled at him, it was to laugh at him. But when Hinata smiled she seemed to almost glow and she didn't even laugh at him when she was teaching him how to burp the baby and Kano-kun spit up all over him. Her eyes just seemed to sparkle as she held the baby while he cleaned up.

Sakura, however left the room laughing. Naruto didn't know when she had come in. He had been so focused on Hinata and the baby that he hadn't noticed anything outside the small area of the kitchen he and Hinata occupied.

* * *

Dinner had been finished and the dishes were washed and put away. Hanabi had seen to this while the little brat that had tried to trick her watched TV with the other two members of Hanabi's team. Now it was getting late and Hanabi determined it was time to send her charge off to bed. 

She stalked out of the kitchen as if anticipating a battle. Her hands were on her hips and her back was rigid. "It's 9 o'clock time for bed," Hanabi said sternly.

"But mom won't be back for hours," Kimihoshi whined, slumping her shoulders as she turned to face a determined babysitter.

"And you'll be in bed by then," Hanabi set her shoulders resolutely.

The argument had gone down hill and higher in volume from there. Eventually the little brat had somehow convinced her to play a board game with her. Only it hadn't ended with just one game, they had to play until she had won. Then since Suraido being the only boy hadn't one yet, then they had to play until he had one, despite his protests that a man can accept defeat with honor. The eventually gave up on the board game as unwinable for him and switched to cards. Suraido apparently had no talent for games at all, as it was on their third game and after midnight when Kimihoshi finally fell asleep.

* * *

Sakura found her teammates asleep on the couch holding the baby between them. They were leaning against each other, their foreheads together with the baby's face held up to theirs. Sakura thought she should take the baby and put him in his crib, but she just couldn't. They looked so cute! If only she had brought her camera, Hinata would love a picture of this! 

After they'd eaten their dinner, Naruto had insisted on everyone dancing with the baby again. Naruto had acted so excited when she'd shown him a back step in the waltz. Apparently Jiraiya had used a similar movement to dodge him for some time and had never shown Naruto how to do it.

When they finally finished dancing, Naruto and Hinata had really gotten into the act of playing with the baby. They'd plain worn him out. And apparently they'd worn themselves out as well.

* * *

Sakura watched Naruto and Hinata arrive. As usual she had gotten to their training area first. Naruto was usually last, arriving just barely on time, usually running. Today however, he showed up at the same time as Hinata. They were walking together, Naruto talking animatedly and loudly. Sakura could hear his voice, but couldn't make out what he was saying as he waved his hands excitedly about something. Hinata's hands stayed close to her body, shy as ever, but she was clearly listening intently as she smiled coyly. 

They seemed to be getting along better, Sakura thought. She was pleased that Naruto was paying better attention to Hinata. Sakura had to yell at him earlier when he had left Hinata alone after one of their one on one late night training sessions. Actually it had been more of an all day and into the night training session. Sakura couldn't understand how those two could do that.

It had been late when Sakura had finally been able to leave the hospital. She had spent a long day training with her sensei, Tsunade-sama. She had been traveling down one of Konoha's now dark streets just in time to see Hinata stumbling home. She caught up to her just in time to catch her when she collapsed

Worried, Sakura had instantly switched into medic mode. She searched Hinata for any sign of injury, first with her eyes and then with several medical jutsu in quick succession. After just a few moments, Sakura came to the conclusion that she was just exhausted, and after several attempts to rouse her unconscious teammate Sakura began the long walk back to the hospital lugging Hinata on her back.

Fortunately she ran into Hinata's old teammate, Kiba. She didn't think to ask what mischief he was up to this time of night, but seeing his obvious concern she let him help by carrying Hinata.

They got to the hospital and immediately turned Hinata over to one of the healers. They eventually agreed with Sakura's prognosis that she was just exhausted, though they definitely didn't take her word for it.

Sakura and Kiba had stood outside, looking into Hinata's room through a window as she slept peacefully despite the IV in her arm that was restoring fluids and nutrients that her body had burned during her work out. Standing outside the room Sakura realized how much alike Hinata and Naruto really were. She mumbled, "She's just like Naruto; training herself into the ground like that."

Sakura was shocked by Kiba's vehemence when he denied it. "Hinata's trained like this since she became a genin. Maybe Naruto stopped being a lazy bum and started training like her, but she's nothing like Naruto."

The argument had gone down hill from there until they were both kicked out of the hospital. But looking back now she realized she didn't know when Naruto had started training so hard. She had seen him train now and was amazed by it, both by his stamina and his determination. She now knew that she would never have Naruto's endurance. He could train harder and longer than she could and only just break a sweat. Then he would proceed to train for two to three times as long and hard as she could until he had finally wore himself down to the ground and could barely stumble home.

The truth was he'd trained like that since she'd gotten to know how he trained. Jiraiya-sensei said he'd been doing it since he was in the academy. At that time and even when they had become genin she hadn't paid much attention to him let alone his training. She'd just assumed he didn't train much; because he didn't do very well, but Jiraiya-sensei said that the kyuubi's chakra interfered making it harder for him. Hinata's lack of confidence caused by her family's disparaging did the same. Would they be able to help each other?

* * *

"Are you ready to fight with everything you've got?" Naruto asked while Sakura was still caught up in her reverie. He'd taken to reminding Hinata to fight with everything she had before each training match to make sure Ero-senin didn't upset her again. He enjoyed a good fight, but he didn't need the stuffing knocked out of him every day. 

"Yes," Hinata nodded her head excitedly despite her shyness. When she spent much time around Naruto it was hard for her not to get excited. His attitude was so contagious.

"We'll train hard and become the strongest ninja in the world, so we'll be able to protect the people we care about!" Naruto grinned intently at Hinata causing her to have trouble meeting his gaze. Her heart drew out to him in wonder. The more she got to know him the more incredible she found him. How could anyone not love someone so wonderful? He was so earnest and nearly everything he did was to protect the people he loved. He still sometimes talked about being Hokage; it was still his dream. But Hinata could tell that he wasn't training just to fulfill a dream, he trained tirelessly so he could protect his loved-ones. That was his motivation and the source of unending determination.

"Well it'll be easier for you," Naruto continued, despite her blushing, "because everyone is so scared of you that they won't mess with anyone if they know you're around!" Naruto gestured excitedly.

"I'm not…" Hinata tried to interrupt, but Naruto wouldn't let her.

"I'll bet the Sound's bingo book says: _If you see Hinata, don't mess with her or she'll knock you through a tree!_"

"But, I didn't…" Hinata tried to interrupt again, with same results.

"Of course you didn't," Naruto said it like it was obvious to everyone. "That sound teme ran away before you could beat him senseless. I bet he went straight from the Laundromat where he cleaned his pants to have that added to their bingo book!"

Naruto didn't remember when it happened. One of the first steps in his plan was to compliment Hinata to help her see how strong she already was. Somewhere along the way he had started to enjoy complimenting her. It wasn't because he thought it was funny the way she blushed and acted embarrassed. He didn't think it was funny it was endearing in a way he couldn't understand. The real reason had more to do with her shoulders, the way they sometimes got straighter as she stood a little taller, and her eyes that some times seemed to shine a little brighter. When it happened he could tell that she felt better about herself and it made him happy in a way he couldn't describe. So he kept complimenting her, no matter how silly it sounded, so he could see more.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata tried to sound exasperated. But it's hard to sound exasperated when you can't wipe the embarrassed grin off your face. "I'm not that strong."

"Tell it to my leg," Naruto replied instantly. "It still aching today after whatever it was you did to it yesterday." Ever since that day that Ero-senin had made her mad, Naruto had taken extra effort to let Hinata know when she had hurt him. He wanted her to know when she had fought well and gotten a good hit in. It never occurred to him that it might discourage her from fighting hard, which it had done at first. But he sounded so happy when she managed to hurt him that she couldn't stay upset about it for long.

During some of his speed training, Ero-senin had told him, 'don't think you're fast; _know_ your fast.' Ero-senin had said something about confidence stopping hesitation or something like that. Naruto thought something like that might work for Hinata. He wanted her to _know_ she was strong, not just think. So he did everything he could to show her how strong she was.

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud bang. The suddenly tense genin relaxed seeing the smoke obscured image of an obviously relaxed woman. The smoke cleared revealing a woman wearing a large trench coat over fishnets and a few other bits of clothing that barely made pretence of concealing her modesty.

"Where's Jiraiya-sama?" the newcomer asked a little more loudly than was strictly necessary.

"You're that crazy lady from the chuunin exams!" Naruto gaped and pointed at her.

"My name is Mitarashi Anko," the newcomer said through gnashed teeth. "Your sensei, Jiraiya-sama asked me to show you some of Orochimaru's jutsus today. So where is he?"

"Oh," Naruto replied seemingly oblivious to the Special Jounin's irritation. "If he knew you were coming he probably decided not to show up today so he could…err…slack off." Naruto had learned it wasn't wise to let any female know what his sensei was likely up to.

It had been Hinata's idea. Knowing how important it was to Naruto to get Sasuke back, she had asked their sensei if there was anyone that could show them the types of techniques that Orochimaru might be teaching Sasuke so they could be prepared for what he might do. And so this encounter had been arranged. The only question was if the way Anko and Naruto seemed to take to each other like a cat and dog was arranged as well.

Sakura tried to stem the brewing conflict by suggesting that since Jiraiya-sensei wasn't likely to arrive they should get down to the business of Anko showing them the techniques and how they were used. Unfortunately she didn't have the foresight to disagree when Anko suggested that showing them in actual combat would be the best way for them to learn to counter them.

In all fairness Sakura didn't remember which of them had started it, but before the fight even began Naruto and Anko had started taunting each other. It was just like the way Naruto and Sasuke bickered as they fought, Sakura remembered in a poignant moment that had nearly gotten her bitten by a snake.

The fight had started with Naruto getting bitten in the butt by snakes launched from Anko sleeves while Naruto was making a rude gesture with it. Most of the Special Jounin's techniques involved scales and things that slithered. Her hand to hand fighting style seemed to involve almost unnaturally fluid movement with sudden strikes that seemed to almost always find their way underneath her opponent's guard striking with a surprising amount of force. Even her jutsus were like that. She evaded most attacks by smoothly moving just barely out of the way and she attacked with her jutsus suddenly, just like a striking snake.

As the battle progressed each of them had been bitten or wrapped in the coils of a snake. Naruto seemed to get the worst of it either way, because he was constantly taunting Anko or because he was almost always the first to rush in. Sakura found that it was the perfect distraction and when Naruto was either blown away or jumping out of the way she would choose that moment to strike. Hinata seemed to agree as she started doing the same.

It was Sakura had to admit, a very good strategy. Naruto was nothing if not durable. He took the biggest beatings and managed to be the first of them to get back up. Though, Sakura also had to admit that he was pretty quick. He managed to dodge many of Anko's counter attacks, particularly after he had seen them a few times. Sakura even found his taunting proved to be useful. Not only did it draw Anko's attention to him, but it also allowed Hinata and her to have time to recover and setup to follow him when he attacked.

Anko seemed to agree with Sakura's assessment of their tactics, and gave it the best complement she could. She shifted tactics. When possible she'd try to force Naruto into Sakura and Hinata's path. At one point she snatched the loudmouth out of the air with snakes from her sleeve and swung him at his teammates.

He ended up on top of both of his teammates. Anko watched, amused with her handiwork as the three shinobi began to slowly disentangle themselves when the obnoxious one's hand found it's way onto the quiet one's crotch. He jumped up and held his hand like it was scalded, immediately apologizing profusely to the quiet one while the loud one started yelling at him.

Some of the more vicious jounin would have taken the opportunity to attack during this distraction, but Anko knew a trap when she saw one. The boy had already proven how tricky he was. He usually took point, attacking first to distract for his teammates. The first few times he'd just run in and she'd batted him aside. But then he'd started with the tricks. No sooner than she'd knock him aside and begin fending off his teammates then he or one of his clones would attack her from behind, or above or even below. Thank goodness for Kawarimi /Substitution/. This was definitely another trick. No guy could ever be that sorry for groping a girl! Especially since the girl in question obviously wanted to jump his bones. Unfortunately for him, her eyes and bare forehead showed she was a Hyuuga, and from their main house, so that wasn't going to happen.

Anko was expecting it, so she was easily able to dodge, when Sakura launched Naruto at her. The Special Jounin was impressed, the blow looked so real. Then it occurred to her it might be real. She'd originally laughed when they had the only boy on the team running point. It was a little sexist to think that because he was a boy he could take more punishment, but after seeing him just shake off some of the things she'd sent at him she was impressed. And she had to give him credit; he was quick. After seeing her moves a few times he started to be able to avoid them annoyingly often.

All in all she was impressed. She hadn't realized that Jiraiya-sama had trained a team since the Fourth's, but he did a wonderful job, they worked like a well-oiled machine.

Sakura rushed after Naruto screaming his name. Anko, knowing it was a trap tensed, ready to counter when the pink haired girl reached her, but to her surprise she ran right past and when she got to her teammate began to pummel him. Despite her suspicions she couldn't help but be impressed at boy's ability to dodge as well as take punishment. Then she began to cringe when she saw the girl's ferocious power taking its toll on the poor kid. At first she would have advised him to let her hit him a couple of times to get it out of her system, but seeing how battered the pleading boy had become without satisfying the girl's fury she had to acquiesce that he had the right idea. Don't get hit in this instance seemed to be synonymous with don't get killed

"I'm sorry," a quiet voice said from behind. Anko hadn't realized she'd been gawking and cursed herself for being so easily distracted in battle as she whipped around to face her remaining opponent.

"Sometimes they get that way," Hinata continued after righting her self from her bow. "I tried to tell her that it was obviously an accident, but s-she…" Hinata knew that she couldn't stop her teammate, but that didn't make what she was witnessing any easier.

Anko was shocked; she'd expected a blow to the head while she had her back turned or some debilitating Hyuuga technique. "Well you can't let a guy get away with that kind of thing even on accident, or he might try it again." Anko tried to appear as if she'd forgotten all about the fight and was distracted by the young lady next to her while she kept a close eye on both her and the two fighting teammates that were running around the training area now.

"Naruto-kun would never do something like that!" Hinata was as insistent as her shyness allowed.

"Just because you like him, doesn't mean he's perfect." Anko replied stealing a casual glance toward the still bickering teammates.

"I-I-I know he's not perfect," Hinata chose to ignore the first part of Anko's statement as best she could. "He never had parents, and most of the adults won't pay attention to him, so he doesn't have very good manners." Hinata spoke slowly and hesitantly. "He can say things that sound thoughtless, but he's only trying to help. He doesn't like to hurt people or for people to be sad…"

Anko was taken aback. "He sure pulled a lot of pranks for someone who doesn't like to hurt people." Hinata's description certainly hadn't fit with the loud boy Anko remembered.

"He never hurt anyone with those pranks," Hinata was quick to answer. "He just wanted people to see him… It feels so empty when no one sees you…"

Listening to Hinata's voice waver as she described Naruto, Anko could tell that she'd had it rough. Anko remembered what it was like to be alone, how empty she felt. If it hadn't been for the Fourth, she didn't know how she would have made it. Then the Fourth had died and she'd had no one left. And this girl seemed to only have a loud boy that hardly noticed her.

While Anko was revisiting the demons of her past, Hinata was screwing up her courage. "Anko-san, will you train me?"

"Huh?" Anko asked surprised as she fell back to reality.

Nervous, but unwilling to back down now that she'd asked; Hinata bowed formally. "I would be greatly honored if you would accept me as your apprentice, and teach me your techniques."

A loud crash drew Anko's attention back to the two bickering teammates in the middle of Hinata's request. Both of them were moving faster, Naruto was yelling his apologies out louder and Sakura's fists were doing even more landscaping. "Sure," Anko replied distractedly as she once again tried to casually prepare for whatever trap these three had planned.

Her training in decorum prevented her from showing it, but Hinata was elated. She had expected to be grilled with questions and have to convince Anko-san to train her. Hinata said nothing as she waited for her new Sensei to determine how they would proceed, but after several long moments of uncomfortable silence she spoke up. "Uh…Anko-sensei…when will we start?" she asked hesitantly.

"Wait a minute," Anko looked surprised. "You're really serious about this?"

"Yes," Hinata's voice was determined now and her posture rigid.

"So, this isn't some kind of trick to get me to lower my guard so one of you can get me while I'm not paying attention?"

"No." Hinata was a little surprised by the question.

"So they really fight like that?" Anko gestured to the pair whose fight was finally beginning to slow down.

"Uh-huh," Hinata replied quietly, not sure how to answer that question.

"They must not get along very well."

"They're actually very close."

Anko wasn't sure if she could hear wistfulness in the girl's voice or not. "Uh-huh," was all she could think to say. "So why do you want me to train you?"

"Well, you see, my teammates are determined to bring back their friend Uchiha Sasuke and I though that if I learned some of the techniques that Orochimaru was teaching him, then I could help them." When Anko didn't respond, Hinata continued. "And…well…I want to learn to move like you do."

"Like I do?" Anko was surprised.

"You dodge with really small movements and it's hard to see your attacks coming. They're very quick and slip under everyone's guard."

"But, what about Jyuuken?" Anko interrupted.

"It's just as useless as any other style if you can't hit your opponent," Hinata was surprised at her boldness, and was glad her father hadn't heard her say that. "I think that if I could fight like you do, it would make my Jyuuken better."

Anko, didn't know how to take that. She didn't know much about the Hyuuga Jyuuken, they kept most of the details very quiet, but she'd never heard of one of them learning another style to try to improve it. She'd never even heard of one of them trying to improve it at all. They usually acted like it was perfect and couldn't be improved. Anko didn't know how to respond, but fortunately she didn't have to.

"You're gonna train with the crazy woman!"

The sound of Naruto's yell coming from right behind her nearly caused Anko to jump out of her skin. Anko spun around to face where the loud genin's voice had come from and placed her hands on her hips. "My name is Mitarashi Anko…" Anko's yell faltered as she looked side to side to find the source of the noise.

"That's great!" Naruto's excited cheer came from behind her again. "You'll be the scariest girl ever!" Anko turned around to find Naruto standing right in front of her new apprentice. The rambunctious boy was a little too close to her to be gesturing as excitedly as he was. Hinata's arms were held tightly in front of her chest as she leaned back slightly and blushed brightly. Anko was thinking the girl obviously didn't have very high standards for sweet talk when she heard Naruto continue.

"When we meet enemies you'll just say something like: 'I just love the smell of fresh blood in the morning.'" Naruto did his best to pantomime Anko's sultry voice, but he didn't do any better than he had with Sakura's.

Unfortunately Anko picked up on Naruto's antics a little better than Sakura had. "Your voice acting skills leave much to be desired," Anko's voice seemed to drip out of her mouth as she pressed herself against Naruto's back. "Perhaps you'd do better if I shortened your vocal chords a little." Anko wiped the flat of a kunai /knife/ across Naruto's throat for emphasis.

"See! Just like that!" Naruto didn't seem phased by the knife at his throat. "You'll say something like that and everyone will just run away!"

"I'll be teaching her how to fight scary not just act it." Anko sounded annoyed about the slight on her fighting skills, though in truth she was more upset about running into another blond punk she couldn't scare. "Besides I don't think she has it in her to be mean."

"You haven't seen her fight when she's angry." Naruto said excitedly from his new position facing Anko. She hadn't even seen him move, and there was the same tingling feeling as when the fourth would get out of her holds! Anko was so shocked that she missed the first half of the boy's rant. But then she realized that the boy and the fourth both had the same teacher, so it's only natural that the boy would know some of his moves.

"… and her skin looks like it's glowing and hair whips around her head, and you can see the chakra around her fists and she's so fast…"

Anko grinned at the antics of the young man in front of her before she interrupted his babbling. "Then maybe she'll be the first one to have what it takes."

"She'll have what it takes and more," Naruto interrupted Anko's attempt at a sinister laugh and the annoyance showed on her face. "You just make sure that you teach her the good stuff!"

Anko just smirked at the finger Naruto had pointed at her and turned to face her new pupil. "Hyuuga Hinata!" Anko smiled again when her voice brought the young kunoichi to attention. "Meet me here tomorrow, an hour before dawn." The Special Jounin's words were still echoing in the clearing as the smoke concealing her departure faded away.

* * *

Anko had been a harsh taskmistress once she'd discovered Hinata's predicament. She had initially blown off Naruto's warning to train her well. But Anko was a jounin and more than capable of gathering information, especially when all it entailed was verifying what was flying around the Konoha gossip circles. A quick check of some public records was all it took to find Hinata's original sensei. Then all it took was a few drinks to get all the answers she needed. Who would have guessed that Kurenai was a featherweight when it came to sake? 

Anko had shown up early the first day of training to find Hinata already practicing by striking a tree. She had originally thought she could get away with just teaching the girl a few jutsus, but now she knew Hinata's situation. She knew the kunoichi would never accept just that and Anko knew in her heart that she'd never be able to live with herself if she did just that. Why did the girl have to remind her so much of herself? At least she had that Naruto brat. He'd better not ever let Hinata down, and for good measure he better clue up fast or else, Anko thought. At least she knew she could never let Hinata down like her sensei had let her down.

They had trained for three days. Each morning started early with drills and forms that she'd drilled into Hinata until Anko could barely stand. They'd take a long lunch and Anko would rest as much as she could while she taught Hinata the two most basic jutsus of the style Orochimaru had taught her. Then once the sun started to set they'd fight until they could barely drag themselves home.

Hinata had come a long way in just three days; about as far as Anko would have guessed the girl would have in as many weeks. But then Anko thought she would have had some free time in those three days as well. But at current rate it looked like Anko wouldn't have any free time until the Chuunin exams that started in about a month were done. That was if Hinata could pass the test.

If Hinata could pass the test, she'd be the first Anko had seen other than herself. She'd been asked to teach her skills to people several times before and each time she'd secretly laugh when they failed the all-important test. She usually made her victim take the test before she'd teach them even the basics, but Hinata was the first she'd actually wanted to pass.

She had no doubt that Orochimaru had put the Uchiha through the test. Nor did she doubt that he passed, eventually. However she did suspect that his first attempt would have been amusing to watch.

He could have his Uchiha though, Anko though. If Hinata can pass the test, she'll one day surpass the 'genius Uchiha,' not because of her blood limit, but because of her determination and incredible stamina. Orochimaru always did under-evaluate the value of determination and hard work. He always picked the ones that it seemed everything came easy to. When he had apprenticed her, she had thought he might have changed his mind. But now she sometimes wondered if he'd abandoned her, because he'd realized how hard she'd had to work for what she'd achieved.

Anko had ordered Hinata to sleep-in today. She knew if she just set a later meeting time, Hinata would just practice on her own beforehand. She'd been that young once herself and Anko knew even then, that people's bodies need time to rest.

Hinata had come far enough now that Anko wanted to start having her practice her new techniques against someone with a different fighting style. She'd wanted her to practice against her female teammate so she wouldn't be tempted to hold back, but Tsunade-sama had insisted on keeping Sakura working in the hospital for the day. And it was just her luck that Jiraiya-sama had been busy, so Naruto was free.

Anko however had never been so surprised in her life. She'd expected Naruto to say something rude to her, so she wasn't surprised when the first thing Naruto said when he arrived was that she had better have been training Hinata well. She'd expected something like that, so she just grinned and told him that he'd have to fight her to find out.

She wasn't even surprised when he'd turned around and ignored her to give Hinata some kind of pep talk. She figured he probably always had to do that to get a good fight out of the girl that unbeknownst to him would probably rather drag him into a secluded place in the forest than fight him.

No, what shocked her speechless was watching them fight. They fought each other like a cat and a dog locked in the same cage. Anko had expected Hinata to have trouble trying to hurt her crush, but once they started fighting she seemed to want to crush him for real. She gave the boy absolutely no quarter, and he in return did the same. They were unrelenting. The only way you could tell that they weren't blood enemies trying to destroy the other's very soul was the way they would occasionally step back when they'd scored a particularly powerful hit and let the other get up. And of course the stream of compliments that would flow out of Naruto's mouth whenever Hinata managed to knock him down.

It had been a long time since Anko had seen anyone fight so fiercely. Usually when two high level ninjas fought the battle would start on a fully physical level, but escalate into something that was as much a battle of wits as much as physical power. Incredibly powerful jutsus would be used, countered or avoided and another used back. Those battles would become as much a chess match as a physical battle; a beautifully deadly chess match, but still a chess match. But these two both favored simple ninjutsu that complimented their taijutsu styles. And their jutsus fit into their fighting styles perfectly.

Naruto's fighting style couldn't be described as graceful, but it was definitely efficient. He moved with precision and power. And he moved fast, very fast. But where Naruto's moves were rough and hard, Hinata's were smooth and flowed together. She moved gracefully and when she stuck it was precise. She was still in the process of learning and adapting her new fighting style into her old one, so she would shift between styles, sometimes smoothly, and sometimes not. But what came as a shock to Anko was Hinata's speed. She'd never seen her apprentice move so fast, not even when fighting her. She kept up with Naruto speed for speed. And when Naruto got faster, so did she.

Anko lost track of time as she watched them fight. When the fight finally ran down, Anko had no idea of how long it had lasted. But now that it was over she had a new respect for her apprentice's power now that she'd seen her fighting with everything she had. And she could tell that both of them had fought at their maximum. The way they had twisted, contorted and leapt away from danger and the way they would take a blow just for the chance to try and hit the other showed without doubt how desperately they had fought.

It took Anko a minute to get to the two resting teenagers from where she'd had to move back to keep a safe distance from the fight. When she got there Naruto had already started in on his verbal barrage, though he was much quieter than normal and she had to get next to them before she could hear it.

"I told you that she'd make you scary…with those snakes coming out of your arms…you're one of the scariest girls I know and the strongest!"

Naruto's face had been split by an enormous grin, but Hinata didn't seem to know how to take it. Was she too scary for him? He said she was strong, but did he like strong girls, would he ever like her? Oblivious to her dilemma Naruto waved and announced that he was off to lunch.

Anko just chuckled at the emotions playing across her apprentice's face and waited for the girl's teammate to walk out of earshot. "Don't worry, he said you were scary." Anko couldn't help but laugh at Hinata's questioning look. "He liked it," Anko grinned at the girl until she started to relax. "But you've got bigger problems than boys right now young lady!" Hinata found her Sensei's sudden change in demeanor frightening and didn't even notice the step back she took.

"What was that?" Anko yelled gesturing angrily toward where the bulk of the sparing had taken place. "Why haven't I ever seen you fight like that?"

Hinata took another step back as her arms wrapped around herself. "Well, uh… I don't…"

"You mean to tell me you can only fight your hardest when you're trying to impress some boy you like!?" Anko's yell interrupted the girl's stammering.

"No!" Hinata yelled out suddenly.

"Don't lie to me, I know you like him."

"No, I mean yes, I mean that's not what I meant!" Hinata stuttered out frantically.

"Then why haven't I seen you fight that hard before?" Anko's voice, though now quiet, was not friendly.

"It's just that if I don't fight with him that hard, I can't help him get stronger," Hinata said to the ground unwilling to look up at her Sensei. When no reply was forth coming Hinata looked up to see Anko raising an eyebrow. "I just couldn't stand it if he got hurt," Hinata swallowed hard, "or died, because I didn't help him get stronger."

Anko was taken aback at the girl's logic. "You mean you can fight him as hard as you can to help him get stronger, but you can't fight like that to make yourself stronger?"

"I just don't want to hurt anyone," was Hinata's barely audible reply.

"Despite our pulling our punches during training accidents will happen, but a shinobi fights with everything they have to protect what's precious to them. If you can't practice with everything you've got to make yourself strong enough to protect what you love with your own two hands, then you have no business wearing that Hitai-ate that you've casually strung around your neck!" Anko turned and began to walk away, but yelled back one last thing to her quivering apprentice. "I'll be back here at the usual time the day after tomorrow, if you're not ready to fight with everything that you have to protect what you love, then don't show up."

Neither Anko as she walked away nor Hinata as she stood trembling noticed the old man chuckling at them as he watched them through his telescope. Nor could they hear his hoot when something caught his eye and he turned that telescope back toward the Konoha Bath Houses.

* * *

Looking back Hinata couldn't believe how she'd gotten here. She had spent much of the day Anko had given her crying and training, often at the same time. She didn't think she could ever do what Anko-sensei had asked. Every time she tried to hit someone her arms would freeze up on her and she'd worry about how badly she'd hurt that person. No matter what she did it just wouldn't go away. She was barely able to fight Naruto for real. 

It was during that day that she had run into Naruto, literally. And it had been his advice that had given her what she needed to meet Anko in the training area the next morning. She didn't remember how he'd maneuvered her to sitting down next to him, but he did and before Hinata knew it she was pouring her heart out about how Anko-sensei had told her she shouldn't be a ninja.

Naruto had been furious. "Where is she?" Naruto had bellowed. "I'll tell her that there isn't a stronger ninja in all of Konoha than Hyuuga Hinata, because she always fights to protect her precious people!"

Somehow Hinata could tell that Naruto wasn't just saying that to cheer her up, he really meant it. And his unfaltering faith in her crushed her. "How can you say that?" she asked through a new wave of tears.

Naruto didn't pause for a second. "Because I saw you fight Neji, and Kabuto, and you saved Konohamaru."

"B…but we failed our mission." Hinata sobbed.

"So, you still saved him didn't you?" Naruto didn't seem to have the slightest concern about the failed mission. "Now where is Anko-teme, I'll tell her…"

"No Naruto-kun," Hinata yelled out. "It was my fault." Her admission was barely audible, but it stopped Naruto from storming off.

"How?" Naruto asked, clearly not believing.

"When she saw us fight," Hinata replied hesitantly. From the look on Naruto's face she could tell he didn't understand, but it was hard for her to admit. "I couldn't fight her like I fought you."

Hinata couldn't look at Naruto after the admission, so she didn't have any warning when she felt him sit back down beside her. "Of course not Hinata, you don't like to hurt people." His voice was calm and quiet. It soothed her. "I like that about you."

The words shocked her, sending a jolt down her spine. She gasped and turned to face him. She had to know if it really had been Naruto that had said those words.

Naruto, oblivious to the full nature of what was going on just chuckled at her reaction. "What?" Naruto asked with a grin. "Did you think I only liked you because you're pretty?"

Never in her wildest dreams had she dared to hope that Naruto would really find her pretty, let alone actually tell her so. The shock was more than she could handle, so it took her a few moments to catch up with what Naruto was saying.

"…I have a hard time when I'm fighting you or Sakura-chan, because I don't want to hurt one of my friends" Naruto's voice had sounded pained. "But when I thought they were going to give you that seal and there was nothing I could do, I felt so helpless, like everything I had ever done was for nothing. That's why I took that bet, and that's what I remember when I'm fighting with you guys. I don't want to ever feel so helpless when one of my precious people needs me."

The weight of everything Naruto had said had been a bit much for her. She sat there contemplating what he had said for some time. So long in fact, that when she had next become aware of her surroundings Naruto was gone. She hadn't heard him tell her to do her best or that he knew she could do it as he left. She sat in that same spot contemplating what he had said for the rest of the day and into the night.

She berated herself for forgetting the danger Naruto had put himself in to protect her from her family's cursed seal. She'd been so happy to be able to spend time with Naruto recently that she had forgotten all about why it had happened. Somewhere during that night of soul searching she found the courage and the determination to try and change herself again.

Hinata had arrived early the appointed morning tired from a nearly sleepless night, but with her heart full of determination. The training had been even harder on her emotionally than when she had to teach herself to fight Naruto without holding back. But when she wanted to hold back she'd remember how much Naruto was counting on her to be strong.

Anko had been satisfied, but now she wasn't so sure it had been such a good thing that Naruto had helped her. She definitely missed him now now. Not that she usually slept in the same bed as the young man she admired, but she wasn't in her bed at all. If she were alone in her bed then she would be fine. But she wasn't in her bed.

Hinata lay in a bed in the living room of her sensei's home. She had been taken there when she had become too exhausted to fight. Her sensei fed her a simple meal made of mostly instant foods and sent her to bed. The bed wasn't particularly comfortable, but she could sleep if her problems were just being alone in a strange, uncomfortable bed in a strange, dark house. But Hinata wasn't alone, and it was definitely the snakes, bugs and other poisonous looking, creepy, crawly things moving, slithering and crawling all over her body that were keeping her awake.

Anko-Sensei had said that her jutsus required the person performing them to lack fear. Supposedly the bugs and snakes and crawly things, her teacher had summoned wouldn't bite her unless they smelled fear, but it was becoming very difficult for the young shinobi to hold back her fear.

If only Naruto were here now! He'd be able to give her courage. He'd say something wise that would help her gather her courage. And Naruto would definitely tell her to do her best. He might even say that he knew she could do it. Maybe he would even put his hand on her shoulder like he had done that one time. Hinata could feel his warm touch sliding over her shoulder. Then maybe he'd…and his hands…she could feel it…and she'd… tease…"Oh, Naruto," she moaned…

When she woke up in the hospital she knew she'd failed. It took her a moment to remember the events of the previous evening. She woke up in the middle of the night disoriented with a strange feeling of dread. Then she felt things slithering and creeping all over her skin. She screamed. That was when she felt the sharp pain of things biting her all over her body.

She found Anko-sense sitting by her bedside in the hospital. She told her that she had done well to even be able to get to sleep, but she'd have to master her fear even in her sleep. Then her master had left her to her ponderings on how she could learn how to be fearless even while asleep.

Hinata's training continued the next day. She was told that she could only ever take the fear test, Hinata didn't think that name adequately described it, three times. But she wouldn't be able to continue her apprenticeship if she failed the second time until she managed to pass the third time. Anko-Sensei said the third time would kill her if she failed. So Hinata trained diligently while trying to figure out how she could overcome her fear before the next time.

* * *

Not long after her stay in the hospital Hinata found herself at team Alpha's meeting place with Sakura waiting for Naruto. She and Sakura had come to the meeting spot together from Sakura's house. She had hosted what she referred to as a slumber party through the weekend, which had in attendance all the girls from their rookie year as well as Tenten from her cousin's team and Temari who was visiting from the Sand Village to help prepare for the upcoming chuunin exams. 

The girls had mostly talked about clothes and boys, though they had also talked about Hinata and Sakura's prospects at the chuunin exams. Their opinions had been favorable about that at least. Hinata really didn't feel she had much to contribute to their discussion. She knew about the appropriate attire for many formal occasions, but Hinata's training had little bearing on the types of fashion these girls discussed. They talked about how various articles of clothing complimented various features or other parts of their anatomy as well as how they affected the boys.

Hinata didn't say much, nor could she easily follow many of their conversations. But she was happy that she had people that were friends enough to share with her despite her quiet nature. Though they definitely didn't just let her sit quietly. They did anything they could think of to find out about what she saw in Naruto and what she felt about him. And when they couldn't get coherent answers from her they talked for her; giving her suggestion after suggestion on how she could win him over. They argued with each other over which were best and which would and wouldn't work while each tried to cajole her into following their advice.

But that wasn't the most embarrassing part. Sakura had asked her about how well her Byakugan could see through clothes. Apparently she'd wanted to know ever since Hinata had seen the shuriken in the armor of the ninja they'd fought on their first mission. Once the other girls heard the question they'd started all talking at once. Someone suggested that she liked Naruto because she'd seen a certain part of his body. They even asked her how big it was! Then they'd started talking about Naruto-kun's stamina. Hinata didn't think she'd ever been so embarrassed in her life. She was very grateful when Tenten finally rescued her by telling everyone that according to Neji the byakugan could only see hard objects underneath a person's clothes.

Sakura was pleased with herself this morning. The night before she and the other girls had finally got Hinata to wear one of the new outfits they had gotten for her. Hinata had put her jacket on over it, so part of it was wasted, but the coat didn't cover Hinata's legs and she was certain that Naruto would have to notice Hinata now. She bet Naruto would be walking behind her all day.

Sakura felt kind of bad that they had never included Hinata before. She was quiet, but good to have around. It had definitely been nice to have her and Naruto to talk about so the whole evening wasn't filled with the girls trying to convince her to give up on Sasuke-kun, though the other girls hadn't let that slide completely. They hadn't spent as much time but they had been more vicious about it. Sakura hadn't been the only one who was surprised when Hinata had come to her defense. She said that Sakura owed it to her teammate not to give up on him. But the shock hadn't stopped the other girls. They called him all sorts of terrible things; they said that if he was a traitor he was scum and didn't deserve anything from his friends. Sakura had heard enough by then and yelled at them. She told them that people that broke the rules and didn't follow orders are scum, but if she gave up on her friends she would be even less than that! The other girls had wanted to say that was exactly what Sasuke had done, but they knew that they wouldn't be able to convince Sakura that giving up on Sasuke wasn't the same thing. After listening to Sakura's heart felt explanation they weren't quite sure they could convince themselves.

Not wanting to continue along her depressing avenue of thought Sakura went back to mentally berating her teammate for being late. They finally had a teacher that was on time most of the time and now Naruto has to go and be late. "Where is that idiot?" Sakura mumbled after she'd worked herself up.

"Please don't say that," Hinata said quietly. She knew Sakura really didn't mean it, but so many people said terrible things about her Naruto-kun that it still hurt to hear it from her other teammate. "I'm sure he has a good reason," Hinata finished uncertainly. In the past she wouldn't have been able to speak out against one of her teammates, but she hoped that it would be like the party last night where everyone could go back to being friendly with each other even if they had a disagreement.

Before Sakura could respond to her statement, they both heard a voice calling to them. "Sorry I'm late." Hinata would recognize that voice anywhere. It was Naruto-kun!

"What took you so long?" Sakura yelled at her teammate before he had gotten all the way over to them. Naruto didn't answer immediately, but when he stopped a few feet from them he put one hand behind his head and laughed nervously. He seemed a little bit embarrassed. "Well, you see the people at Hinata's house wouldn't tell me she wasn't there, so I got stuck waiting for her a while before the finally yelled at me to leave."

Sakura's face, which had been twisted in anger suddenly started to go slack. Her jaw opened and her face seemed to melt until she suddenly got control of herself, broke into a grin, and let out a girlish squeal.

The sudden change in demeanor startled Naruto and when he heard Sakura's Sasuke squeal he turned around with a jump to find out who she was squealing over. For an instant it was just like when Sasuke was with them. He didn't see Sasuke, nor did he see any other boy that Sakura could be squealing over. But he was so absorbed in his search that he didn't hear Sakura yell, "You go Hinata!" nor did he hear Hinata apologize for his treatment by her family.

Training that day had consisted of a boring mission that was supposed to improve their teamwork. They had finished fairly early and broke apart just before lunchtime leaving Hinata and Naruto walking together. They were getting close to the Icharaku Ramen stand when they met the Konohamaru corps. Naruto greeted each of the three of them by name and invited them to come to have lunch with him at his favorite ramen stand. They agreed readily, however they had to coax Hinata into accepting Naruto's invitation to come too.

Not more than a year after Naruto had left, the Hokage had assigned several minor missions to individual Genin and Chuunin. These ninja were to take a group of three academy students with them to help their training experience by giving them the opportunity to practice some of the basic survival skills of shinobi in a relatively safe environment. Hinata had gotten a simple courier mission and had taken Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi with her. The client had claimed it was a simple delivery that he didn't have the time to make, but they had been attacked by enemy ninja.

The ninja had abducted Konohamaru and demanded the scroll in exchange for his life. Knowing that the scroll was too important to hand over if it was important enough for enemy ninja to attack, Hinata had used her Byakugan to ensure they weren't followed and hid a crying Udon and Moegi and used her blood-limit to find where they were holding Konohamaru. She'd taken them by surprise, but one of them, a kunoichi had been stronger than the others. Hinata had fought her with everything she had. Hinata got knocked down several times, but she refused to give up, until eventually the enemy kunoichi had fled. Hinata had been so badly injured that Konohamaru had to carry her to find Udon and Moegi. Then the three of them had nursed her and carried her back to Konoha. When the ANBU had finally been dispatched the ninja she'd defeated were gone.

That was how she had met the Konohamaru corps. After the mission they'd treated her like a big sister. All of them missed Naruto, if in different ways. They'd played with her much like they had Naruto. So she found it easy to be self confident around them, even with Naruto around. So when they had announced that they'd become genin and had gone on their first mission Hinata found herself joining in the collective excitement and getting louder than normal with everyone else.

Naruto and Hinata were excited for their friends, but they weren't satisfied with the types of missions Genins started out on. Naruto had tried to console them telling the most important thing about their first missions was learning teamwork.

The three new genin hadn't been mollified, so the five of them had found themselves in one of Konoha's training areas. Naruto had suggested that the four of them attempt to steal a scroll from him, but Konohamaru insisted that if he and his teammates needed to learn teamwork then they needed to learn to work together as just the three of them. Naruto and Hinata had acquiesced but Naruto insisted he wouldn't go easy on them.

Not going easy on them had entailed a lot of silliness from tickling to wet-willies to a lot of Naruto brand silliness with the Kage-Bunshin Technique. The new genin had attacked Naruto while he had his pants down only to be counter attacked by the real Naruto and Hinata who had been hiding in the trees above. That one had really embarrassed Hinata. Eventually they caught on and were very suspicious of finding Naruto alone, so Naruto had the clones he used as bait turn into Hinata. Naruto even let them steal a scroll that when they opened it, it wrapped itself around Konohamaru. Udon and Moegi had gotten a serious tickling after that one.

In the end Hinata and Naruto had let them get the scroll. Naruto had insisted that they keep it. He said they'd want it and winked conspiratorially as they parted ways, Naruto escorting Hinata home.

Hinata happily walked beside her Naruto-kun. The sky darkening as the sun descended toward the horizon put Hinata in a romantic mood. She'd had a great time and wanted to thank Naruto-kun. But she wasn't sure what she should say. It wasn't like they'd been on a date really, not with Konohamaru and company hanging around, but she'd really enjoyed her time with Naruto. So, unable to decide what to officially thank him for she decided to try a safer course for conversation: curiosity. "What was in that scroll you gave Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi?"

"It was a jutsu scroll, Ero-Senin made me make that tells how to do Kage-Bunshin no Jutsu and how to combine it with Henge no jutsu and it has all the ways I could think of to use them."

"W-was that your first scroll of you're personal Ninpou?" Hinata asked, growing even more impressed with her Naruto-kun for having developed enough of his own unique style of ninja arts to record it in a scroll. She'd been so heavily trained in her family's techniques and style she didn't feel she had a style of her own. Everything she could do had been someone else's before her. She'd never been given the opportunity to try and adapt it or try anything new.

"I guess." Naruto didn't appear to be particularly impressed with himself. There was a time when he would have been very pleased with himself and would have touted the style as proof of his greatness and his own school of ninpou. But he had important people to protect and a friend that needed his help so without a rival that kind of self-aggrandizement wasn't so important to him anymore.

"Why did you give it to them?" Hinata said sounding and feeling odd as a wave of a strange new emotion passed over her. She almost felt greedy. She'd wanted that scroll; not for herself, but to one day give to the children she hoped she and Naruto would have, so she could show them how great their father was. The thought of those children however was enough to make her blush.

Naruto didn't seem to notice how strange her question was. Or if he did he didn't comment on it. "Well I wanted to give them a gift…" His voice trailed off in embarrassment. "But I didn't know that they'd just graduated. So I didn't have anything to give them…and well when I had just graduated a new technique would have been just what I would have wanted the most."

Hinata knew about Naruto's unselfish and giving nature, it was one of the things that attracted her to him, but something inside her just wouldn't let it go. "I mean wouldn't you want to save that for your children," Hinata said a little embarrassedly, perhaps because she'd almost said our children.

"Well…" Naruto began slowly; the subject was a bit personal to him. "Hinata…" Naruto stalled while he tried to decide what to tell her. "I'm not really sure if I'll ever have kids." Naruto decided that she was as close a friend as he had so he could tell her.

"The F…" Hinata shushed her outburst by placing her hand over her mouth. After quickly looking side to side she continued. "I-I-t doesn't make it so you're not able…?" Hinata was too embarrassed to finish her question, especially with the way Naruto was squinting questioningly at her. She only managed a few nervous sounds as she moved her hands in front of herself and tapped her index fingers together.

"No!" Naruto said a little too loudly once he figured out what Hinata was asking. He was too nervous to notice the way Hinata's shoulders slumped in relief or hear her sigh over his quiet babbling "At least I don't think so. I'd have to ask Tsunade-ba-chan…" Naruto muttered quietly. He didn't want to sound like a pervert. "He just does a good job of keeping most of the girls away." Naruto finally managed to say normally and with only a slight blush.

The two fell into a nervous silence. Hinata didn't know how to respond to Naruto's statement. She wanted to tell him not to give up; that there was a girl out there just for him. But she didn't think she could tell him that it was her. And Hinata definitely didn't want some other girl to capture his heart. But she didn't want Naruto to give up hope; she wanted him to be happy.

While Hinata was trapped in her internal struggle, Naruto was revisiting some poignant memories. He and Ero-senin had stayed in a village for a few months while Ero-senin had been teaching him how to gather information from people. The people had been really friendly to them and there had been this one girl he kept running into that always used to blush and smile at him, but quickly look away, kind of like how Hinata used to act. Ero-senin has said that the girl liked him. He really didn't know how to react to that or Ero-senin's constant teasing. But it had felt good to think that someone could actually be attracted to him. Then after the attack it had all changed. He'd fought to save them, but as soon as they had seen the changes on his body when he had to use the Kyuubi's chakra they'd all shunned him. Even that girl had run away from him! That's why he'd been so happy when Hinata & Sakura didn't abandon him when they saw.

Naruto left Hinata at the front gate with a quiet goodbye. It made her sad to see the so often loud shinobi so quiet. After eating a simple dinner alone she found herself in a wooded area not far from her family's estates where she had wrapped some blankets around a tree so she could train without disturbing the peace of her family's home. She had been so thoroughly engrossed in her thoughts about what Naruto had told her that she hadn't realized where she had been going.

She reached out and touched the tree she had spent so much time practicing her Jyuuken on. She'd started coming here less often when she started training with Naruto-kun and hadn't been back since she started training with Anko-Sensei. Hoping that the physical activity would help clear her mind she began striking the tree for the first time in her new style. That was where Anko found her over an hour later moving with a serpentine grace around the tree striking it with her fingers and occasionally her palms.

"Try and keep your feet closer together in that stance and point your toes farther inward so you can spin around faster," Anko corrected Hinata's movements sighing to herself. She's spent her entire day running errands, cleaning and all the other things she couldn't do because she spent so much time training this girl and here she was jumping right back into it on her day off!

Hinata backed away from the tree, striking it once and kicking it as she moved back into position to perform the move again with Anko-sensei's prescribed changes. This time she did indeed whip around faster. Not sure what to do she just continued her improvised movements around the tree.

"Didn't you have training with your team today?" Anko asked as she watched her apprentice continue to dance around the improvised training post striking it from every angle.

"Yes." Hinata didn't even spare her sensei a glance as she continued to practice.

"And it's over now?" Anko asked uncertainly

"Yes."

"Then haven't you done enough? Why don't you call it a day?

There was a long moment of silence, interrupted only by the sounds of flesh meeting wood and the flutter of clothing, before Hinata answered the question. "Naruto-kun wouldn't quit."

"Uh-huh." Anko didn't sound convinced. She suspected her apprentice's faith in the loudmouth's work ethic was probably based on something other than clinical observation. "So what do you see in him anyway?" Ando asked curiously.

Anko pretended not to notice the slight stumble in Hinata's movements and the slightly fearful look that flashed across her face. There was another pause where only the sound of Hinata's training could be heard. Anko almost thought that her apprentice wasn't going to answer her when the young girl finally spoke up. "He's strong and he works hard. He never gives up no matter what. And he can be an excellent shinobi and still be gentle and caring."

"Well, he's definitely a stronger ninja than I expected." Anko had to admit. "But I suspect you work much harder than he does." Hinata was after all probably the hardest working ninja that Anko had ever worked with.

"No." Hinata punctuated her statement with a flurry of strikes against the tree. "I've watched him ever since the academy…"

'So she was one of _those_ girls,' Anko thought. Still, stalking is an important ninja skill.

"Everyone was against him even though he should have been a hero…"

"What are you talking about?" Anko asked, hesitantly interrupting her apprentice.

"I'm not permitted to discuss it," Hinata said as casually as possible trying to cover for her previous lapse.

"How did you find out?"

"An enemy Sound Ninja we encountered told us before he got away." Hinata answered through gritted teeth.

"You know you can't tell anyone…" Anko's voice was hesitant.

"The Hokage told me, but he's still the village's biggest hero, and the people that know should acknowledge it!" Hinata said angrily

"If you know what happened how can you say that?" Anko asked shocked. "The Fourth died to defeat that thing!"

"He didn't sacrifice as much as Naruto-kun did." Hinata stated it as simple fact.

"The Fourth gave up his life!" Anko was exasperated that someone could belittle the Fourth Hokage's sacrifice. "What did that brat ever give up?"

"The Fourth gave up his life, Naruto-kun…he had to give his life." Hinata answered amidst a renewed flurry of strikes to the tree. "Naruto had to live alone. He's been hated and scorned by nearly everyone he's known his whole life and he didn't even know why. But he never gave up. He always believed in himself and never gave up on his dreams even though things didn't come easy for him. He worked hard to be acknowledged by people for his skill and for what he's done and still almost no one does."

"I see…" Anko drew the words out slowly, now that she finally understood what the girl saw in him. "You know that he just hides his pain, he'd have to be without emotions to not be hurting."

"I know, but it's still more than I was able to do."

Those words hit Anko hard and the total silence when they were spoken told her that Hinata must have stopped. But before Anko could turn back to her the sounds picked up with a fury. It seemed the rumors were true. Anko had to turn back away lest the girl see the hatred she had for Hiashi on her face.

* * *

Not too far away two other young ninja could be found in a similar clearing lit only by the stars. Konohamaru was practicing controlling his Kage-Bunshins enough to get them to transform into various things, including nubile women. He didn't have enough chakra to make more than a few of them, so he had to be extra careful not to dispel them. The technique required more concentration than the boy currently had. His attention span didn't seem to be faring much better. 

"Oi, Naruto-nii-san," Konohamaru called out after letting out a particularly disgruntled sigh when he failed to transform all of his Bunshins into rocks. "Why am I doing this again?" Konohamaru flopped down onto the ground. Each of his Bunshins looked tired. Most were panting, a couple sat down while two others leaned against trees, and one just bent over with his hands on his knees.

One of the sides of Naruto's lips quirked in the barest hint of a smirk as he took in the scene. But they quickly returned to the grimace that had been covering his face as he concentrated on his exercise. "I told you Konohamaru. Using henge combined with Kage-Bunshin is one of the most useful techniques there is." Naruto grunted out. "It's all in the scroll I gave you guys." Naruto grunted again as he concentrated on keeping control of the sphere of energy in his right hand as he tried desperately to form a matching one in his left.

"I mean why are we staying so late? I'm tired."

"Then go home, you need to make sure you get enough rest for tomorrow." Naruto said breathlessly as the spinning vortex in his had began to coalesce.

"Are you going home?" Konohamaru asked hopefully. He didn't seem to want to be outdone by Naruto.

"Not for a while," Naruto grunted as the vortex in his left hand became louder and more out of control.

"Why do you train so late?" Konohamaru stared in wonder at Naruto's pinched face as he tried to control his jutsu. He'd known that Naruto-nii-san worked hard, he'd seen the intensity of his training several times and Konohamaru still found it amazing. Naruto-nii-san was the one that had taught Konohamaru that there were no shortcuts to becoming Hokage. But this was the first time he'd really seen how much Naruto-nii-san trained.

"To protect the people that are important to me," Naruto said breathlessly after the spinning whirlwind dissipated, having failed to condense into a tight sphere like the one on his other hand.

"You've trained all day and everyone else has quit for the day."

"Hinata wouldn't quit," Naruto said simply and with the same surety that someone might say that the sun would rise in the east the next day.

"No, she wouldn't." Konohamaru said resignedly.

"It's all right Konohamaru, if you need to rest then rest." Naruto grunted out as the sphere in his right hand reappeared and the air became turbulent around his left. "It won't do you any good to keep training if it means you'll be too tired to train tomorrow… But I've got to train some more."

* * *

Not many days later Naruto found himself walking alone toward the training area he and his team used. He expected he'd find it empty as usual. When he was on the road with Ero-sensei they usually had to train somewhere that he could spy on girls while Naruto trained. It took a lot of effort to get the old pervert to help him train, but at least he was there. But now that they had a formal training ground Naruto usually had to train himself until the old man finally deemed to show up, if he even showed up at all. Rather than complain to himself about it Naruto was trying to decide what to do with his training when he noticed that the training area wasn't as empty as he'd anticipated. 

No such luck, it wasn't his sensei. It was Hinata and after just one look he could tell that something was wrong. He didn't think it was one of their days to practice together and usually when Hinata was waiting for him she was twisting and swaying in her new fighting style with her hands flying out in all directions to attack imaginary opponents. But today she just sat there with her knees pulled up in front of her and her arms wrapped around them.

Naruto didn't consider himself very good at talking to girls so he just stopped where he was trying to figure out what to do. Deciding that maybe Hinata was just tired from all the training she does he decided to walk the rest of the way with a cheery smile on his face as if nothing was wrong.

When she didn't acknowledge him, Naruto plopped down noisily beside her. That got her attention. Hinata gasped and wiped at her eyes before she looked at him. "N-Naruto-kun," she sputtered out.

"Is it our day to practice together?" Naruto asked. He couldn't tell if the redness in her eyes was from crying or lack of sleep.

"N-no," Hinata replied nervously. She didn't know how to tell Naruto-kun what had happened. She couldn't bear for him to think less of her.

In response Naruto grinned mischievously. "So are you playing hooky from that crazy sensei?"

"No!" Hinata shook her head violently.

"Oh, I didn't mean to suggest you were lazy or anything." Naruto's voice was loud and little scared. He raised his hands up and shook them as if to ward off a blow. "I know you work very hard."

Naruto berated himself. He knew Hinata must have tons more discipline than he did. He almost never snuck out of training, but sometimes when it had just become too much he'd sneak away to relax or goof off somewhere. He felt stupid for thinking that Hinata might be as weak as him.

When no disappointed comment came Naruto looked up. Hinata never hit him or even yelled at him. When he did something wrong and upset her she just sighed and sounded disappointed. He really wished she'd just yell at him or hit him like Sakura-chan does. It would hurt, but when he made someone as nice as Hinata sad it was worse somehow.

He looked up and Hinata was grinning at him. It was that sincere smile of hers that he liked seeing so much. He didn't know what he'd done, so he just scratched the back of his head and smiled back. Then she just started giggling, she tried to stifle herself, but she didn't seem to be able to stop. Hinata wasn't like most of the girls he knew, which made her easier to understand. But she was still a girl and sometimes he didn't understand her at all.

Unsure of what to do Naruto just smiled at her until she stopped laughing. "So what're you doing here?" Naruto asked "Your sensei too lazy to train you today too?"

Hinata's once beaming face began to fall at that question and Naruto began to berate himself again for making her sad. "Sh-she's not my s-sensei anymore." Hinata seemed to be trying to hold back tears.

"What?!" Naruto bellowed. "What did she do this time? She can't just…"

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata's wasn't particularly loud, but somehow just raising her voice just a little bit stopped Naruto mid-rant. "I-it was my fault," Hinata continued softly. The silence after that statement was almost palpable. Just as Naruto was about to deny it, Hinata continued. "I failed her test. Anko-sensei says I can only take it one more time, but until I can pass the test she can't teach me anymore of her techniques."

"Oh, is that all?" Naruto sound completely unimpressed

"But, I don't think I can pass the test." Hinata said before Naruto could continue

"That's ok." Naruto exclaimed as he knelt down in front of his distraught teammate. "You don't need her techniques to be strong. You can be strong in your own way."

"B-but…" Hinata tried to interrupt, but Naruto wouldn't let her.

"Not all jutsus are suited for everybody. I can't do most genjutsu, because they don't use enough chakra."

"But all the time I spent…" Hinata began, but stopped when Naruto leaned forward and grabbed her hands.

"She's already taught you some great taijutsu." Naruto squeezed her hands gently and leaned back slowly letting her hands slip out of his before he continued. "If her other techniques won't work for you then you keep what you've learned and we'll find techniques that will for you."

"What about Sasuke?"

"I'm strong enough to deal with Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed as he leaned back and pumped his fist. "You just worry about being strong your way, not anybody else's. You'll show everyone the real strength of never giving up."

"Naruto-kun…" Hinata stammered out. She just couldn't seem to make him understand how terrible her failure was. And she didn't know why it was so important to her that she explain it. She didn't really want Naruto-kun to think any less of her. She didn't think she could bear it, but somehow she felt that if he found out later that it would be worse. Hinata was just too confused; she just couldn't concentrate. She had felt so terrible that she'd spent most of the night crying. And when she'd finally cry herself to sleep she'd wake up with terrible nightmares about her failure.

Seeing the way Hinata's body sagged and her eyes drooped, Naruto said the first thing that came to mind. "Why don't you rest, I'll be here when you wake up and I'll help you.

Naruto hadn't expected her to fall asleep in his lap that day. Her body had seemed to just sag as if whatever was holding her up had just drained out of her. Somehow she'd ended up on top of him. And he just didn't know what to do. He wanted to yelp out in surprise or loudly deny that he'd done anything wrong, but Hinata seemed to have fallen asleep before her head had even landed where it had.

He'd been stuck until she woke up. Once she did, she had turned red with embarrassment. Naruto had tried to apologize, but he didn't think she'd heard him. She'd merely thanked him without meeting his eyes.

The day had mercifully gotten better from there. She was eventually able to look him in the eyes once Naruto got her talking about training. They spent the whole morning talking about her training with Naruto continually assuring her. They discussed Hinata's strengths and personal fighting style. Naruto figured that since in the Jyuuken fighting style the user was constantly expelling chakra to damage the opponent that extensive chakra reserves would be necessary, so he suggested several ways of increasing her chakra capacity. Hinata felt that control was one of her strengths so they also planned how she could both improve her control and use it as a weapon.

It had been nearly two weeks since that day and they had trained together nearly every day since. Sakura had joined them as often as her training with Tsunade allowed. Ero-Senin seemed to show up less than half the time, usually late and was usually not very helpful, much to Naruto's disgust.

Hinata and Naruto were taking a late break for lunch when they ran into the Konohamaru Corps. They had just finished their mission for the day and had insisted that Naruto buy them ramen to celebrate. The whole thing seemed suspicious to Naruto. They didn't seem particularly excited about their mission and when he asked them about it they'd quickly change the subject to Hinata. From what little he could glean from their small comments, the mission had been completely boring.

Naruto had been so suspicious that he forgot to invite Hinata until Konohamaru insisted she come. Hinata had offered to help pay, but before Naruto could assure her it was all right Konohamaru had tugged on his sleeve and spoke loudly, "Aren't you a man? You can't let a girl pay for you!"

Naruto just laughed as Konohamaru began pushing him toward the Icharaku ramen stand. "It's all right, I've got enough," was all he could say before he was pushed ahead of the others.

Not to be out done, Moegi grabbed Hinata by the hand and began to pull her along as well. When they caught up at the ramen stand the Konohamaru corps made sure that Naruto and Hinata sat next to each other in the corner and insisted that they order first. Once Naruto and Hinata had finished ordering they turned to find that they were alone.

Not knowing where the kids went they decided to wait for them. After five minutes they decided to give them ten. And after fifteen minutes they decided to go look for them. Naruto had immediately asked if Hinata could find them with her byakugan. She easily found them each hiding across the street where they could easily see inside the stand. Unfortunately she did not hide the seals for her doujutsu, so the spying youths knew immediately that they had been caught. The three of them scattered instantly.

With a quick smile to Hinata Naruto created a Kage-Bunshin and took off after Konohamaru and Udon. Hinata's face momentarily took on a feral grin and after apologizing to the proprietor she left in the direction that Moegi had taken.

Konohamaru seemed to have the worst luck of the three fleeing genin. He ran headlong into someone. That someone turned out to be a shinobi dressed in a sleeveless black ninja gi /uniform/ with gray wraps. "Where do you think your going in such a hurry?" The voice of the man whose feet Konohamaru found himself sprawled in front of had a sickeningly sweet quality to it. But before the young genin could register the sinister undertones to his obstruction's statement he found himself in the air looking down into the slate grey eyes of the black-clad ninja he'd tried to run through. And those eyes didn't look kind.

Konohamaru felt trapped by those malicious eyes. They seemed to try to burn through him. Then without warning they moved up to his forehead and the young man's face twisted from it's previous grim expression into a sneer as the man turned to one of his companions behind him. "Look," he said shaking Konohamaru as if to catch their attention, "a little ninja."

No longer captured by the grey-eyed man's glare, Konohamaru looked behind the man who had grabbed him to see his companions for the first time. On one side Konohamaru saw what he would have thought was a scarecrow that someone had foolishly planted in the middle of the street, if it hadn't moved. The tall figure seemed almost too thin and willowy to be a person. Its clothes looked more like burlap rags than clothes and didn't leave inch of skin uncovered on its entire body. Its head was covered by what appeared to be a burlap sack with two black dots where its eyes should have been.

The figure on the other side was almost the complete opposite of the shabby scarecrow. This one was hooded and when Konohamaru tried to get a look at its face under the hood all he could see were jagged blood red shapes where its eyes and mouth should have been. This one had black shoulder pads with gold trim that its matte black cape hung down from obscuring the rest of its shape from view. Konohamaru found it the more intimidating of the two until the effect was ruined when the imposing figure laughed girlishly at the grey-eyed ninja's remark.

His captor turned back to face him. The black and gray ninja was still smirking as if he knew something that Konohamaru didn't. And Konohamaru figured he was probably right. Konohamaru didn't know what the shinobi was going to do to him, but he figured he was about to find out.

The small ninja braced himself, but before he could be let in on the big secret they were interrupted. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to politely request that you put the boy down." The voice was firm and authoritative and definitely belonged to a woman. Konohamaru turned to see Naruto-nii-san turn a corner and skid to a stop next to his other teammate Sakura.

"And what if we politely refuse." The voice of the hooded woman was cold as ice as she took a menacing step forward. It didn't sound a thing like the tittering girl that seemed to be underneath the hood and cape earlier.

"Then I'd tell you to put him down now." Sakura's voice was chilling and the sound of her knuckles popping was loud. Konohamaru was glad that he hadn't run into her, he'd be unconscious for a week!

"So girl, what is this runt to you?" the grey eyed man asked lazily as he slowly turned his head to face her for the first time, as if she had been beneath his notice until just now.

"He's the grandson of the third Hokage." Sakura replied through gritted teeth. She didn't seem to like being ignored.

Konohamaru didn't hear his captor's reply. He couldn't stand that he was still just the Third's grandson. He'd worked hard to increase his skill and had finally become a Genin, graduating at the top of his class. But that was just what everyone expects from the third Hokage's grandson. He didn't know how he was going to escape his grandpa's shadow, but one thing was for sure, he wasn't going to now unless he took charge of this situation himself.

"Excuse me sir." Konohamaru spoke in the firmest voice he could muster while still being polite. The grey-eyed shinobi was so surprised by it that he stopped mid-rant. "I'm sorry I ran into you. I'd apologize properly, but my feet don't seem to be touching the ground. Would you put me down please?"

The black-clad ninja looked at his prisoner in shock for a moment until his smirk returned. "I don't think I can do that. If I did, you won't learn your lesson."

"And what lesson is that?" Konohamaru heard Naruto-nii-san's voice ask from behind him.

"A little ninja must always pay attention to his surroundings to keep from getting killed by the real ninja!" The gray-eyed shinobi bared his teeth as he pulled his fist back behind his head. Desperate, Konohamaru prepared to use his most powerful technique.

"Orioke-no-jutsu!/Sexy-no-jutsu/"

Konohamaru almost laughed when he saw his captor's eyes widen in shock. He thought it was hilarious the way the gray-eyed ninja drew back almost as if in fear. Konohamaru's face split into a grin. Though his grin was now her grin, and it only enhanced the allure of the busty brunette that he had transformed into. Konohamaru knew that the power of this technique wasn't just in the form of the naked woman he had transformed into; it was in the subtle details, the way he stood and moved her hips making her upper body jiggle. And Konohamaru was pulling out all the stops to make sure this was the best performance he had ever done. This dark haired guy didn't stand a chance!

Konohamaru never saw it coming. One second he was posturing as provocatively as he could and the next he was skidding to a stop on the pavement. He heard Naruto-nii-san's voice call out his name and when Konohamaru looked up he could see Naruto-nii-san running toward him. But before he could get close a shadowy ghost-like form seemed to rush out of the black and gray ninja and run at incredible speed around Naruto-nii-san ending up behind him. His big brother turned to face the shadowy figure and lifted his had to punch it. Then Konohamaru blinked and when he opened his eyes the strange ninja was standing where Naruto-nii-san had been with his fist surrounded by a cloud of smoke.

* * *

Naruto had just cornered Udon when he felt the influx of knowledge that happened when one of his Kage-Bunshins was dispelled. He immediately turned and ran as fast as he could to Konohamaru, disappearing in a flash. Leaving Udon to quickly turn his head side to side to look for his disappearing aggressor and not seeing him, sigh in relief. 

Fortunately Udon wasn't very far from where Konohamaru had gotten in trouble. Naruto was able to get there within seconds of when his Kage-Bunshin had been dispelled. He moved so fast that he seemed to come out of nowhere skidding to a stop right next to Konohamaru.

The eyes of the ninja that had destroyed his Kage-Bunshin had returned to grey from the solid black they had been when he attacked. He was still standing where he had destroyed the Bunshin with a superior smirk on his face. Now that Konohamaru wasn't in danger he got a good look at the shinobi that had attacked him. His black gi looked immaculate except for the sleeves, which looked like they had been intentionally torn off.

The gray wraps on his arms and legs looked to have been put on meticulously and the gray belt was tied to the side. He wore a Cloud Hit-ate over a proud brow and his black hair sprouted above it in all directions. The whole look said one thing to Naruto: Pretty Boy.

The black clad ninja looked at Naruto, sizing him up, his condescending expression never leaving his face. He didn't show it, but he was impressed. Few people ever had the forethought to attack his ethereal body in anticipation of his physical body catching up and fewer still had the speed to try it, even as unsuccessfully as this ninja had. "That was a pretty impressive use of a Bunshin /Clone/ to escape me."

"It's easier than you'd think," Naruto was smug. He wasn't going to tell this guy that it was a shadow clone the whole time if he didn't know it. And it told Naruto a very important fact about this guys doujutsu /eye-based-technique/. It can't tell the difference between a Kage-Bunshin and the real thing.

"Konohamaru's jutsu was pretty good, but you recovered from it pretty quickly." Naruto grinned insinuatingly.

The black haired shinobi seemed oblivious to what Naruto might have been implying. "If I could be defeated by such a simple vulgar display I would have been forced into marriage and have several children by now."

Naruto raised his eyebrows in surprise. The girls must be more forward in his village. At least he hoped. "Hey, Sakura-chan, you didn't ever…" Naruto's question was interrupted by the banshee shriek of Haruno Sakura and the loud crunch of Naruto's body crashing through a small brick wall.

The three foreign ninja's heads whipped from side-to-side; first to the crater that Naruto's body had made and then back to the relatively petit girl that had punched him through the wall. Each of them measured the smaller girl up, the grey-eyed shinobi showing a look of surprise on his face for the first time. The girl was much stronger than he had originally surmised, but he couldn't understand how she'd been able to hit someone who could react to his own attacks with a punch that slow. The only conclusion he could make was that the blond had let the girl hit him.

"_Sakura-chan_," Naruto's voice interrupted the grey-eyed shinobi's mental ramblings. "You didn't have to hit me so _hard_."

The grey-eyed ninja was shocked to see Naruto climb out of the rubble seemingly none the worse for wear. Then he realized that the blond ninja must have allowed himself to be hit, because he knew he wouldn't be seriously hurt. The grey-eyed shinobi grinned. No matter how physically strong you were or resistant to physical attacks and pain, he knew that there was no way to make yourself immune to his Kurogan's /Black-eye/ power. "What's your name?"

"Isn't it polite to give your own name when you want to know someone else's?" Naruto asked.

"Hakumei Kanojiro."

"Never heard of you," Naruto replied.

"Your village is having its annual Chuunin exam, watch it and you'll learn everything you need to know about me."

"Well, if you're going to be competing against me in the Chuunin exam you had better remember the name Uzumaki Naruto."

"I'll look forward to defeating you then," Kanojiro said with a flourish as he turned around and walked away, his two companions following close behind.

"That's my line," Naruto said loudly to their retreating forms.

"Uhhhh!" Sakura groaned. "Can you stop your posturing, we need to help Konohamaru."

Naruto immediately turned to see his young friend was still on the ground, propping himself up so he could watch the confrontation. He didn't look very steady. "Are you ok Konohamaru? Can you get up?"

"I'm fine Naruto-nii-san." Konohamaru replied as he tried to stand up. Too wobbly, he had to catch himself before he fell back down.

"Don't try to stand." Sakura's voice was gentle when she switched into her role as a healer. "I'm a medic-nin let me look you over."

"I said I'm fine." Konohamaru tried to push her away.

Seeing that Konohamaru didn't want to admit he'd been hurt Sakura tried a different route. "Please, Konohamaru-kun, I'm going to be in the next Chuunin Exam and I need to practice using my medical skills."

"You wanna practice playing doctor with me?" Konohamaru asked unsteadily.

"Hentai no Baka/Perverted Idiot/" was the last thing Konohamaru heard before everything went dark.

* * *

End Chapter 7 

Thanks for waiting everybody. I'm sorry this took so long; it's been over a year. The job change I had just over a year ago really put a crimp in my writing time, and oddly enough this chapter has been the hardest to write so far. The important part of it was in the subtle details.

The next chapter is already started and shouldn't be so difficult.

Please stay tuned for the next chapter of Hinata's Story: The written Exam

The competition for more than just the exam will be introduced…


	8. The Chuunin Exams Begin

Hinata's Story: Underneath Your Clothes

Chapter 8: The Chuunin Exams Begin

* * *

See Chapter 1 and don't attempt to charge anyone to read this story unless you're sure you can get away from the ANBU hit squads

* * *

Naruto could see Sakura-Chan waiting by the building the Chuunin Selection Exam would be in. It was the same one as before. He might have wondered if they were going to use that same genjutsu trick like they did the first time, but he was more worried about the look on his teammate's face. She looked madder than a hornet. Naruto was sure that if a dog bit her right now, Sakura-chan would probably bite it back. 

They agreed to get there early to make sure they had enough time to register. Naruto was a little late. He had wanted to walk Hinata there, so he had set off early to meet with her. His first thought had been to meet her at her home, but the Hyuugas always made him wait and would never even tell him if she was there or not. They were probably all having a laugh at his expense anyway.

So Naruto had decided to go to the hospital first. Hinata had been spending a lot of nights there recently. At first he had thought that she was wearing herself out during her nightly training. He did that plenty often enough and if he didn't have the fox he would probably need to go to the hospital too. But Hinata always seemed to be fine the next day. He'd have thought that the doctors were holding out on him, but she even ended up in the hospital some mornings when he knew he'd walked her home!

She'd been there when he arrived today. The lady at the front desk of the hospital gave him a dirty look, but at least she always did her job and let him know if Hinata was there. He'd gone straight to her room and found her with a nurse. In an uncommon act of kindness the nurse had assured him Hinata was fine. There had been an embarrassing moment however, when he had asked Hinata if he could help her. The nurse had assured him that she wouldn't be letting Hinata leave the hospital if she couldn't dress herself. There was a loud crack as Naruto left the room. Naruto wasn't sure if he'd gotten the blush off his cheeks by the time Hinata come out, but the nurse hadn't stopped laughing.

After they had left the hospital he'd asked Hinata if she was really all right. She had assured him that she was, but that didn't stop him worrying. It had been pretty easy to find out how often she was in the hospital. There wasn't a pattern he could figure out except that it was often and seemed to be getting worse. But that wouldn't tell him what was happening to her and the Hospital staff had all been insistent that they couldn't tell him for some doctor/sick-person confa-something-or-other. He wanted to break in and look at her records, but he just couldn't do that. If she said she was fine he had to respect her judgment and her wish for privacy. So he just walked beside her trying not to worry as they approached the Chuunin Testing Center.

Worrying about whether or not Sakura was going to hit him or bite him was a lot easier to deal with than trying to worry about why Hinata was constantly in the hospital. But as soon as she saw them her face twisted into that wicked smile of hers. The one that always meant she was up to something and usually meant bad news for him. Whatever she was plotting would surely keep him to busy to worry about Hinata, mostly…

* * *

Hinata wasn't paying much attention to their surroundings. The Konohamaru Corps. had come to wish Naruto and Hinata well in the Chuunin Exam. After several well wishes and Naruto-kun's exclamation that they didn't need luck, they had raw power, Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi left dragging their Sensei with them. But just as they were leaving Moegi turned to Hinata and told her to remember what she'd told her. 

Hinata remembered all right. How could she forget? She hadn't been able to look the young Kunoichi in the eye since that day she'd tracked her down after they had left Naruto and Hinata at the ramen stand. "Please give Naruto-onii-san a chance," the younger girl had begged Hinata. The girl had then gone on to list all of Naruto's virtues.

A part of Hinata wanted to tell Moegi that she would do anything to get Naruto to give her a chance. But she knew that she'd tell her friends and they'd tell Naruto. And Hinata was sure that Naruto wouldn't be able to respect her if she wasn't strong enough to tell him herself. And then when Moegi mentioned how great of a daddy Naruto-kun would be; well she couldn't very well talk to such a young and impressionable girl about _that_ now could she?

* * *

Sakura grinned evilly at her teammates as they approached her. Her grin got even wider when she saw her Hinata was blushing. "What have you two been up to?" 

Naruto grinned nervously and put one of his hands behind his head. "We w-weren't doing anything." Naruto stuttered out. He didn't know if Hinata had told Sakura about all the time she was spending in the hospital, but if Hinata didn't want her to know, he didn't want to be the one to let her know. "We were just walking."

Naruto looked awful suspicious to Sakura and Hinata was blushing. But then again Hinata usually blushed when she was around Naruto, except when they were sparring. Then it looked like she was trying to tear him into little pieces.

"Ah, Sakura, let's go. We don't want to be late." Sakura was sure Naruto was trying to distract her. But Naruto was right they needed to get to the testing room. Besides she could just get the information from Hinata later, when they were alone.

The Test would be administered in room 301. Team Alpha climbed a flight of stairs and walked down a corridor right past a group of Genin hopefuls crowded around a room in the hall. Naruto made it past the door, but he heard Hinata make a small squeaking sound when one of the older genin grabbed her shoulder.

"Where do you think you're going sweet thing?" the genin that had stopped Hinata asked. Naruto almost growled at him. He and another young man that didn't look to be more than a year or two older than Naruto were blocking a door that was labeled 301. "The Chuunin Exam is dangerous, we wouldn't want a pretty lady like you to get hurt now would we?" The larger man stepped close behind Hinata and leaned his head close to Hinata's neck as if to smell her.

Naruto smirked. "Then you can let her go, because we're the best."

"Che!" the man sneered at Naruto over Hinata's shoulder. "Chuunin are squad leaders, they responsible for making sure their missions are completed and keeping their teammates from dieing. It's punks like you that think you're the best that get their entire teams killed."

"That lady has already proven that she would never let her teammates die." Naruto's eyes turned stony, and when he continued his voice was cold, "Now get your filthy hands off of her!"

"Or you'll do what?" The man whose hand was still resting on Hinata's shoulder smirked.

Naruto smirked back, letting out a single chuckle. "I'll laugh when the lady behind you punches you through the wall of the next building."

Hinata and both of the ninja blocking the door turned to look at Sakura. She was massaging her knuckles and looked furious. Her lips were curled back in a snarl and there was a vein throbbing on her forehead. But it was the orange haze rising from her green eyes making it look like they were on fire that scared the genin into taking his hand off of Hinata's shoulder.

Sakura's face changed once the offending genin stepped back from Hinata. Sakura's eyes twinkled above her triumphant smirk as she stepped forward and started to usher Hinata toward the stairs. "Thank you," Sakura said as she patted the speechless ninja on the shoulder.

The three genin had successfully slipped through the crowd when the other ninja that had been obstructing the door spoke up for the first time. "Hey where do you think you're going?"

"Upstairs," Naruto yelled back. A part of him wanted to tell everyone about the genjutsu, as this was only the 2nd floor, room 301 was on the next floor up, but Jiraiya had insisted he treat this like a battle and that all of the other teams were his enemies. But it looked like he wouldn't have to, because Sakura spoke up.

"We have some paperwork to turn in on the 3rd floor," Sakura yelled without even looking back. She knew she shouldn't help the other teams like that, the genjutsu was put in place to keep any teams to week to enter the exam from being able to for their own protection. But trying to fool her with that weak of an illusion was so insulting that she had to say something.

"Neh, Sakura-chan," Naruto called once they were out of sight of the other genin, "that was a cool genjutsu you did with your eyes."

"It's just an X-ray jutsu, but it looks scary," Sakura replied offhandedly.

"You mean you can see through people's clothes?" Naruto asked loudly as he tried to cover himself with his hands.

Sakura was about to say yes until she realized what Naruto meant. "No you baka!" Sakura bellowed as she punched him in the head. "It only lets me see people's bones."

Naruto was still rubbing his head when they got to the testing room. This time there was no one waiting to greet them; not Kakashi-sensei, or Jiraiya or even Hinata's sensei, Anko. Naruto's hand fell off his head to hang lifelessly on his side. He'd only ever been to this room once before, that had been his first and only previous Chuunin Exam. That time Kakashi had been waiting for them. Naruto remembered it, because Kakashi-sensei had threatened to kick them out if they hadn't all come together, but he hadn't told them, because he knew that Sakura would do it even if she didn't want to if Sasuke asked her to. Sasuke, was that why he was so depressed? The last time he had taken this test it had been with Sasuke.

A part of him rebelled, not wanting to take the exam until after they brought Sasuke back. But Sasuke was Orochimaru's apprentice; surely he'd become a jounin by now. Naruto couldn't let him come back and not even be a chuunin could he? But would he keep his rank when they brought him back?

Naruto paused in front of the double doors for several long moments. Sakura didn't know what to think about Naruto's sudden sullen attitude, but Hinata was worried. Naruto isn't one to worry about challenges, he thrived on them, but the last time he took this test he had to fight Neji and there had been the attack by the Village of Sound. Was Naruto worried?

"Naruto-kun," Hinata's voice pulled Naruto out of his reverie. Slowly he twisted to face his shy friend. This test wasn't about him, or about Sasuke, it was about Hinata! He was here so she could take this test and prove herself, and he was going to be with her every step of the way to help her do it.

"Ready to show them what we're made of?" Naruto's eyes had a glint of steel in them and his face showed the beginnings of a smirk. Without waiting for her or Sakura's answer he stepped forward and slapped the doors with his palm sending them open wide enough for the three of them to step through.

* * *

The low thump of Naruto hitting the door drew everyone's attention as he and the rest of Genin Cell Alpha entered the testing room. And the quiet and determined way he walked to one of the vacant corners of the room and leaned back giving the entire room a casual glance was so cool. At least that's what Rensa Kei thought. 

"That's him," Kei whispered to her best friend, Hamaya Yumi. The slightly older girl looked up from the arrow she was inspecting. Kei didn't know whether Yumi-chan had pulled it out of the quiver on her back or the on hanging from her hip. Kei knew that when her purple haired friend was nervous she inspected her arrows. She had three more lying across the Dark purple tabard she wore over her short black tights. The purple cloth had a leaf print that was surprisingly good camouflage. She knew from experience that you could be well within her arrow range and never see her through the leaves.

"Hmm," Yumi lifted her arrow higher so she could look along its shaft toward where Kei was looking adoringly. "He is good looking," she said thoughtfully

"And he's strong," Kei gushed. "He's that guy that beat Hyuuga Neji in the Chuunin Exam all those years ago."

"He's that boy," Kei could hear Yumi's grin in her voice. "And he's gotten even better looking."

"I know he looks so strong and serious…and look at his eyes."

They both giggled at that, but Yumi quickly became serious again. "But what's he doing here? If he's that strong he got to at least be a Chuunin by now."

"You're right," Kei put her hand on her chin thoughtfully "Hyuuga Neji's already a Jounin, if he's stronger than him…"

"Do you think he might be a proctor in disguise?" Yumi was excited. They were one step ahead of everyone else if they'd discovered a secret examiner.

"What?"

"You know a plant to watch us while we don't know the proctors are here or to see how we do against the real thing?" Yumi's eyes sparkled as she considered what the testers might be planning and how she could use it to her advantage.

"I don't know," Kei knew her friend was better at solving mysteries than her, but Kei was more interested in solving the mystery of how to get into a particular tall blond's heart. "But I'm going to pass this exam so I can show that I'm strong enough to be on his team."

"Well _I'm_ definitely passing this exam," Yumi replied archly. "So you'll _still_ be behind me when there's an opening on his team."

"Well I hear there's going to be an opening really soon." Kei said smugly

"Why?"

It wasn't often that Kei knew something that her more observant friend did not, so she casually adjusted her hitai-ate /forehead protector/ and took out her leather whip and began to polish it…

* * *

Naruto was oblivious to the attention his entrance garnered as he strutted confidently into the room. He looked over the other ninja crowded around the tables in the room. They didn't look very impressive. 

He remembered that the first time he'd been in this room the other ninja had all been bigger than him and had all looked terribly menacing. He'd been so intimidated that he had challenged them all. This time they were mostly all around his age and didn't look very powerful at all. They just didn't look strong enough for it to be fun to challenge them, so he walked to the nearest corner and leaned against the wall where he could see the entire classroom.

It didn't take him long to see them. The cloud ninja from before were in the corner opposite him. No one seemed to want to sit too close to them. The Hidden Village of Cloud wasn't allied with Konoha, so it wasn't usually invited to Konoha's Chuunin exam. Naruto could see that many of the other teams were nervous about having Cloud ninjas in the exam.

After he'd run into the Cloud punks he went straight to Tsunade-ba-chan to confirm that they were supposed to be there. Apparently they were denying that they had tried to kidnap Keiko-hime and were demanding concessions because Keiko-chan was marrying Renjiro-kun. Naruto didn't know how they could get away with it; Toshiro-ji-san had been right there. But it made Naruto angry. It was the same thing that they'd done when they tried to kidnap Hinata, they just lied and everyone was supposed to believe it because they said so and give them what they wanted. When he became Hokage, Naruto was going to find a way to keep them from being able to do that, but for now he just glared at the Cloud ninja standing in the corner.

* * *

Hanabi glared at her sister when she entered the room. She guessed that it had been too much to hope for the genjutsu they were using on the second floor to fool someone with byakugan eyes, but Hanabi wanted out of her weak sister's shadow and if her sister had been to weak to even enter the exam, then Hanabi would have proven how completely superior she was. Hanabi was confident that she could defeat her older sister in the stupid match they had planned, but she wanted her sister to fail before then so that she could prove once and for all that her weakling sister didn't even deserve to even fight her. 

Especially now, after her father's training Hanabi was sure that she would be able to make it through to the end and win the tournament. She'd earned it. Every day after her missions were done her father had kept her fighting on that water until she could barely stand on solid ground. After nearly a week of that exhaustive training, Hanabi had stopped falling in the water even when knocked down. So her father had added another element to her training: standing on her head. Because it's easier to control chakra in the hand, doing a handstand on the water was easier than standing on it. But as she expected her father had devised had come up with a way to make it immensely more difficult. He'd forced her to stay upside-down for so long that she had to use her chakra to keep her arms straight. Then he'd made her use the wall walking technique to hold balls on the bottom of her feet. It was one thing to use chakra two places at once, but it was exponentially harder when those two things were almost the exact opposite. But her father hadn't even stopped there. He'd made her walk on her hands and then moved to her finger tips. Eventually after hours of sparring she'd spend the remainder of her day balanced on one finger over the water while keeping rubber balls adhered to her feet and another one floating above her hand with her chakra. And as the days went by Hanabi's control and focus got better and she was able to train for longer and longer. She'd learned incredible control and she noticed that she had even more chakra at her command. She now possessed even more power than her teammates, possibly more than anyone else in this room. Yes, she'd earned her place over her sister.

* * *

Naruto's teammates weren't as oblivious of the tension in the room as he was. Sakura had just smirked when everyone in the room had turned to size up the new comers, but she saw that Hinata wasn't taking it as well. She had pulled her arms in close in front of her and kept staring at the ground to keep from looking at the mass of shinobi in front of them. 

Sakura didn't know what exactly was bothering Hinata. She knew that Hinata had always been the shy self-conscious type, so having the whole crowd of shinobi taking the exam sizing her up had to be intimidating, but there Hidden Village of Cloud had sent two teams of shinobi for this test and Hinata had plenty of reasons to have problems with them. And to top it all of Sakura could see Hinata's sister. The pompous, self-righteous little girl was glaring at her older sister.

Sakura wanted to do something for her teammate to help her keep her spirits up. She'd followed her very nervous looking teammate to where she stood against the wall a couple of feet away from a broody looking Naruto. Sakura was going to try and say something supportive to Hinata or make a large show of strength to intimidate the other ninja until she remembered that Hinata had attended their first chuunin exam with them. She had a better idea.

Putting one hand on her hip and pointing straight at the assembled crowd. Smirking she yelled out: "We're Genin Cell Alpha! And we won't lose to any of you!" Sakura grinned widely as she turned to face Hinata, who was now staring unblinkingly at her. "Right Hinata?" Sakura winked.

It seemed to take Hinata a moment to get over her shock and remember. But when she did a shy smile began to grow on her face. "Right," Hinata nodded while Sakura began to laugh manically at the crowded room full of angry faces.

Before any of the angry chuunin hopefuls could do anything to retort the front of the room exploded in a cloud of smoke and a harsh voice yelled out. "All right you punks, quiet down, this is the chuunin selection exam."

"There will be no fighting with other teams unless the examiners tell you before hand, and even then, killing will not be allowed." The smoke cleared revealing several Chuunin, each wearing similar uniforms.

"What is this some kind of test for weakling pacifists?" The black-cloaked kunoichi from cloud asked. "We're shinobi, not gardeners!"

"What's the matter?" one of the Chuunin asked haughtily. "Don't you have the skill to control your attacks, or are you so weak that the only way you can win is to go all out while everyone else is holding back?"

The cloud kunoichi seemed to sulk underneath her hood. It was odd to see something so menacing pout and mumble under its breath like a petulant child.

"Now everyone will need to turn in their applications and receive one of these numbers, which will tell you where you will sit while we wait for the chief examiner to arrive."

* * *

While everyone was waiting on the examiner, Jiraiya was waiting for his drink at a small out of the way bar, which _coincidentally_ happened to be near some hot springs. He finally had some time off now that his apprentice would be busy with the Chuunin exams for the next few days. So what should he do with his newfound free time? 

He'd probably end up doing what he'd been doing for nearly the last month. Tsunade had told him that she didn't want him to teach Hinata anything, so he'd let the boy do that. Going over the fundamentals and teaching them to someone else is a great way to learn. There are just some things that you can't understand or that you don't even think about until you've taught it to someone else. And working with someone who saw chakra as differently as those two naturally do was bound to give them both whole new insights and plenty of new ideas for ways to fight and to train.

So he'd left her to the boy's tutelage, which basically meant that he'd leave them alone to train with minimal instruction or just not show up at all. It's difficult to determine how much coaching is necessary and how much is too much, but Jiraiya was confident that he'd found the right balance, even if Naruto had complained loudly about it. He was not only lucky to have one of the best senseis in all of Konoha; he'd taught the Fourth Hokage after all. But he was also getting to spend plenty of quality time with a girl who obviously wanted him. Neither of his students had been as good with the ladies as him, but obviously just spending time around someone as charming as him had rubbed off on them both.

Well there was no rest for the weary. Once he was done here, he'd need to get back to work doing research for his books.

* * *

Back in the real room 301 everyone had been assigned seats and were waiting impatiently for the chief examiner to arrive. The room was very quiet as apparently no one was sitting next to anyone they knew. So, most everyone was fidgeting quietly in their seats. It grated on Naruto's nerves. He was bored and he really despised waiting. 

He guessed he had more practice than most people in the room as he had started out as a genin under the eternally late Kakashi-sensei. And while Ero-sennin wasn't nearly as bad, he seemed to like to make Naruto wait as well. He claimed it was part of training Naruto to be patient. The old man repeatedly said that a good ninja mission was one tenth planning, nine tenths waiting and a few deadly moments of execution. Though Naruto thought it had more to do with the old pervert running out of ideas on what to do to train him and wanting to go out womanizing as he often ended up watching him do. When Naruto brought this up he'd been told to pay better attention and take notes.

Naruto was sitting up near the front of the room a little closer to the front than last time, but unlike last time he wasn't sitting next to Hinata. Instead he was sitting next to this strange girl with dark black hair that had a slight greenish tint to it. She was wearing tight black pants and a baggy green camouflage shirt that hung down below her waist. She had a charcoal colored flack vest that unlike the chuunin and jonin vests had a solid piece in the front and back that molded to her body and came up to her mid chest where it was held on by straps that weren't much wider than an inch. It was pretty similar to the vests he'd seen some anbu wear. She also had cloth wrapped around her wrists all the way up to her elbows, which he supposed was to keep her sleeves from getting caught on the leather whip she was polishing. All in all it was pretty normal ninja attire, it was what she was doing that was weird.

She sat there with this grin like she'd won something and would turn to look at him like she was about to say something but would turn back around as if she'd changed her mind. Or she'd just look at him when she thought he couldn't tell. And then there was the way she was polishing the whip. She'd thoroughly polish a section a little less than a foot thoroughly before pulling the whip back and doing the same to another section. She'd start off very slow, almost caressing it through the cloth she was using to polish it. Then as she'd slowly tighten her grip and speed up until she was satisfied and moved on to the next several inches of the whip's length. Naruto assumed there was a reason for why she did it this way, but he didn't know much about polishing leather. She wasn't the only person in the room using the time to inspect their equipment. Several people had kunai or other knives and shuriken lying out in front of them. A girl in the back was polishing her arrows and the black cloak wearing cloud ninja had taken her impressive golden gauntlets apart and was carefully cleaning and oiling their parts, which included two long spring-loaded blades.

Naruto may have been oblivious two Rensa Kei's intentions, but his teammates definitely weren't. Hinata was glaring daggers at the vulgar girl sitting next to her Naruto-kun. And Sakura didn't look any more pleased than Hinata until she saw how clueless Naruto was. Then she had to turn a way any time either of them looked her way to keep from laughing.

Kei, however was eating it up. She couldn't believe her luck getting the seat next to Naruto-sama. She'd only just been able to get his name, the room was so quiet that even if she whispered it could be overheard by nearly the entire room, so she hadn't wanted to say too much more yet, but that wasn't going to stop her from getting his _attention_. And judging by the way Naruto-sama's teammates were reacting she definitely had a chance.

Naruto may not have known why, but he could definitely feel the tension building around him. When he looked over at Hinata, she'd just smile slightly and bury her blushing face in her arms. He'd thought that the way that they'd been working together recently that they had gotten beyond that, but sometimes he really couldn't understand girls. And that went double for his other teammate. He didn't know what, but he thought that Sakura was angry at him the way she'd been glaring, but now she just turned away. It didn't look like she was mad at him, but he still felt like there was a knife pointed at his back.

So Naruto was very relieved when the silence was broken by a loud bang and a cloud of smoke at the front of the room. "Yo," drawled a lazy voice that even after all these years Naruto would recognize anywhere.

"You're late!" Naruto and Sakura both yelled as the smoke cleared to reveal their former sensei. Who, unlike them didn't seem to have changed a bit in the years Naruto had been gone.

Everyone seemed taken aback at the two genin's antics toward the newly arrived jounin. It was after all not a good idea to yell at an examiner during a test. And most of the genin had realized that it had obviously been a test to see how patient they were when the examiners sitting around the room started making notes on each other's clipboards. The life of a ninja after all was by and large filled with long periods of waiting punctuated by brief terrifying battles. It was only logical that they'd be tested on both aspects, as no matter how terrifying your combat skills they could all be useless if you couldn't wait for the right time to use them. And they might have been right. How were they supposed to be able to tell the difference between examiners taking notes on each other's clipboards and people playing hangman and tic-tac-toe?

Oblivious to the outrage Kakashi and his former students each chuckled nostalgically. "Well, the copy machine was out of it's black-powder-ink stuff when I was trying to print your test papers, so I had to go to a store to get more, but apparently there is more than one kind and you have to know what kind of machine it was. So I had to go back…"

"Liar," Naruto shouted. Sakura remained silent this time. Kakashi-sensei's excuse didn't sound like the crazy lies he used to tell when he was late. And Kakashi-sensei never used to look shocked when they called him on it before.

And Kakashi definitely was shocked. His one visible eye was widened in stunned disbelief. That was without a doubt the best lie he'd ever told. He'd spent the entire time walking across town to get here coming up with it. He even acted like he didn't know what toner was called just to make it more believable. How could Naruto have figured it out? He must not have paid attention to his excuse and assumed…

"Aren't those the tests over there Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto pointed at a stack of papers on one of the other examiner's lap.

"Tomeo-kun," Kakashi looked mildly surprised. "You had the test papers?"

"Uh, Kakashi-senpai, you told me to take the test papers and guard them with my life." the chuunin fidgeted nervously. "You said not to let any of the little brats get a look at them."

"Oh," Kakashi said lazily, acting as if it was all news to him. "Well pass them out to everyone while I explain the rules."

Kakashi cleared his throat as he turned to face the assembled genin. His voice got louder, but he still sounded completely disinterested in what was going on. "I'm gonna explain the rules to this test. Please listen carefully, because I'm not going to answer any questions and I'm too lazy to write them down."

"Why won't you answer any questions?" one angery voice in the crowd asked

"Too lazy, what kind of excuse is that?" another voice yelled.

Kakashi's one visible eye looked at the muttering genin stonily. "If you're taking this exam, then it means that you already believe that you're ready to be chuunin, so act like it! Not like some snot-nosed genin fresh out of the academy. If you can't follow directions after hearing them explained once, then you have no business being here. We're not here to help you become popular, or look cool. We're here to separate those of you who are ready to lead squads from those who aren't. If you don't have the skills to be a chuunin, then just pretending like you do is only going to get you and your team killed." Kakashi's voice had been harsh, but then he continued on in his lazy like drawl. "If any of you aren't ready to be chuunin, you and your teammates can leave right now; I'm too lazy to deal with you."

Kakashi waited for a moment before he continued. Unfortunately it didn't seem anyone was going to leave. He really didn't want to deal with them. "Each of you will take a ten question test. You all have ten points. You will have an hour to take the test. When the hour is up each question you have answered incorrectly or left blank will cost you one point. You will be graded as a team. So only those teams with the highest collective scores will pass. However if anyone has zero points by the end of the hour, they and their entire team will fail.

"But how many points do we need to pass?" another person seemed to forget that there would be no questions permitted.

"Ah, I haven't decided yet," Kakashi answered lazily

"What?" several people yelled, but were silenced by Kakashi's stony glare.

"However during the test we will be watching you," Kakashi's voice and demeanor reverted back to laziness. "You will lose two points any time you do something that makes the examiner's believe you are cheating. If anyone loses all of their points they will be asked to leave out that door," Kakashi was pointing toward the back door that they'd all come in through. "There will be no complaining, whining, questioning or recourse…Oh, and from now on anyone that asks me a question will lose three points."

"Oh, and you can start anytime you want," Kakashi said off handedly as he pulled out a novel and began to read.

The rules sounded like they wanted everyone to cheat, or at least that they were daring everyone to. To Uzimaki Naruto it felt like the examiners had issued him a formal challenge, and he loved challenges. He wanted to prove to these people that he could cheat right under their noses, but he had two teammates to worry about, and he needed to make sure that Hinata got to her fight. He would not allow her to fail this test and be branded with that seal because he couldn't control his competitive urges.

So Naruto decided to calmly look over the questions. The first one was simple enough. It was asking about triangulating the distance to a target. It was obvious just from looking at it that the target had to be about 375 meters away, but they wanted him to show his work. He hated when Ero-senin made him write down all the math and numbers, it was just much easier to use your gut. But Hinata was worth it.

The next question was easier. They just wanted him to decode a basic dual alpha-numeric cipher. It was just one of the rules of shinobi conduct. Ero-Senin's spies used a much tough cipher and he'd insisted that Naruto learn how to encode and decoded messages so he could work with them.

The third question was about the arc of a thrown shuriken and what could be derived from it. It looked like the test was a lot easier than the one they had taken the first time.

Sakura remembered the rules from the first and only time she'd taken the exam. It sounded like they wanted them to cheat this time as well. A quick look at the questions and she realized that none of them were questions a genin or even a chuunin should be able to solve. Well she could definitely solve them, but likely only a handful of chuunin could do it. For that matter she remembered a few of the questions from her last exam, the cipher was even the same rule of shinobi conduct. So the question was did she just answer the questions or test out how well she could cheat?

Since the officially said that you were supposed to answer them yourself they shouldn't be able to penalize anyone if they could answer them themselves right? Well, no Kakashi was always talking about how ninja needed to see underneath the underneath, they'd only passed his bell test by disobeying a direct order. He'd fail them. But then again as long as she waited a couple of minutes to start she could always claim to have cheated so well they didn't see it. And she needed to make sure that Hinata beat her sister or Hinata and Naruto would pay the price.

But what were her teammates going to do? Hinata could just use her Byakugan and get the answers without anyone being the wiser, but if she could do it so could her sister. Meaning unless one of her sister's teammates messed up, they were going to get past this test just as easily. So it all came down to Naruto.

But the question is how well did Jiraya-sensei teach Naruto to spy? Was it good enough to get past all of these chuunin examiners? Kakashi hadn't uncovered his sharingan eye, so it would be possible to cheat. Risking a look at Naruto, Sakura looked up and nearly swallowed her tongue in shock.

Sakura had to restrain herself from yelling in disbelief. There was no way the Naruto she remembered could know the answers to these questions, but there he was hunched over his test writing away. He looked completely engrossed in his work. Jiraiya-sensei was good! If he could teach Naruto to spy so effectively that he could already have the answers, then he'd just proven why he was considered one of the legendary three ninjas of the last shinobi war.

Sakura continued to look over the questions while the rest of the people in the room realized what she had already figured out. Almost as one the entire room began filling in the answers they had stolen, this was Sakura's signal to begin.

Just as Sakura surmised Hinata and Hanabi both used their Byakugan to steal the answers. Hanabi filled in her answers a little more slowly than Hinata. She waited until she could check the answers of everyone in the room to make sure that she got the right ones. She filled in all the answers until she got to the tenth question, which only stated would be given by the examiner 45 minutes into the exam.

She didn't stop there however, she looked over the examiner's clip boards to see who they had caught, her blood line limit allowed her to see anywhere in the entire room while she had her eyes never left her paper. She'd just noticed that she and her sister had both been caught for cheating once when the first person and his team was kicked out of the test. Closing her eyes she released the chakra in them, dispelling her blood-line-limit's powers. She didn't dare use them again until the last question.

Hanabi's teammate Deido Suraido used the distraction afforded by the exiting team to make his move. Using his new powers he found someone who was just now found someone to cheat off of and covered their paper with a thin sheen of dust. The pencil's movements through the dust provided him with the answers.

Once Yumi realized they were supposed to cheat, she'd known exactly who to copy. Kei had said that they'd put the boy from that chuunin exam and the Hokage's apprentice on a team with Hanabi-chan's sister to make sure she could get to the end of the exam to fight Hanabi-chan to prove who was stronger. Like the Hyuuga would gamble with the fate of their house! And even if they did, no one would choose two teammates that obvious for the girl. No they had to be there for this test.

So from the back of the class Yumi was used the technique that made her archery-based ninpou possible. The eagle eye jutsu allowed her to magnify her vision many times greater than even that of a real eagle, making it possible to precisely hit targets most couldn't even see from great distances. Or more importantly right now it let her read the boy sitting next to Kei's answers by looking at the reflection of the chief examiner's Hitie-ate/Forehead Protector/. She may have envied Kei the opportunity to sit next to such a cute guy, but it would definitely be harder for Kei to cheat without getting caught sitting right next to the guy that had the answers.

Kei was in luck. It seemed that Naruto-sama was a mumbler. Using listening skills honed by years of listening in on other people's conversations and looking for gossip she strained her ears as hard as she could to hear what Naruto-sama was saying. He wasn't just giving out the answers by any means. But by listening to him mutter she was able to figure out how to solve the questions; though she did have to weed through a lot of extraneous information. He apparently didn't like someone he called 'Ero-senin' very much.

Mitarashi Bishamon had finally picked his man. He had considered using Yumi, when she'd apparently immediately found someone who had the answers, but since they were on the same team it might look suspicious and get points taken away from both of them. So it was time to implement his plan, before his mark got kicked out for cheating.

"Excuse me sensei," Bishamon raised his hand nervously.

"Didn't I say that anyone who asks me any more questions would lose three points?" Kakashi didn't even look up.

"Well, it's not a question…well not really,"

"Oh?" Kakashi didn't even look up.

"Well, it's just you took so long that…ah…I have to use the bathroom."

"Hmm," Kakashi's mask completely covered the bottom half of his face and one of his eyes was covered by his Hitai-ate, but Bishamon could have sworn he saw an evil smirk on the jounin's face. "Mihoshi-chan will escort you."

And when he saw the look in the buxom chuunin's eyes as she fondled a pair of handcuffs, Bishamon got the distinct impression that he did not want to let that woman handcuff him. Swallowing hard he got up and scooted behind the sand ninja sitting next to him. He noticed that there was a long, extremely thin needle sticking out of his lower jaw. He didn't know what this was for, but a quick glance showed that two other sand ninja had them as well.

But that wasn't his concern right now, his mark had just barely managed to steal the last answer without being disqualified, so after the scary chuunin started yanking him by a rope tied to the handcuffs toward the back door, Bishamon tripped and fell.

"Hey, what are you doing with my paper?" A bulky looking ninja yelled in Bishamon's face as he lifted him off the ground by the lapels of his black leather jacket.

"Put him down, _now_." The chuunin who had handcuffed him yelled at the genin threatening Bishamon.

"I just fell," Bishamon pleaded before pointing at a sheet of paper on the ground. "It's right there."

The large ninja lumbered down and picked up the paper, looking it over carefully. "This isn't my test," he sounded outraged.

"What?" Bishimon did his best to sound shocked.

"You planted this on me. Give me my test back!"

"I'm wearing handcuffs," Bishamon held his hands as if to prove he couldn't have done anything. "What are you trying to pull?"

"It doesn't have my name on it," the genin placed the sheet in front of Bishamon's face. "See, it's someone else. Why would my test have someone else's name on it?"

"How should I know why you put someone else's name on your test," Bishamon shouted.

"I didn't, give it back…"

The larger genin was pulling his fist back when Mihoshi spoke up excitedly. "It looks like I get to search you!" Her voice squeaked and she was holding a knife in one hand.

A very large pile of weapons and a very personal pat down later and Mihoshi hadn't been able to find the missing test paper on either of them.

"I feel like I should buy you a drink," Bishamon said after he put his leather jacket back on over his fishnet T-shirt.

"I can't believe you booby-trapped your jacket." The Chuunin decided not to respond to her prisoner's verbal barb.

Bishamon looked up at the three darts that had been embedded in the ceiling when she'd accidentally triggered one of the hidden dart launchers in his jacket. "Uh, it's my favorite jacket," he replied uncertainly.

Mihoshi didn't say anything. She just shook her head and dragged him out of the room, down the hall and into the men's room. She wouldn't even uncuff him when she opened up the stall for him, but she did at least let him close the door. Once out of sight he removed the handcuffs and dropped a powerful stink bomb into the toilet while providing some appropriate sound effects. He waited until his chuunin watcher had closed the bathroom door behind herself before he took out the test form he'd stolen and began to memorize the answers. He didn't have too long to memorize them before he had to get back into the classroom to hear the final question.

Back in the classroom Doushi Torio held his bag-like mask still as he turned his head to look at the pink-haired girl's test. The mask was designed to look like a simple bag with black dots over his eyes, but it was much more. As a member the Doushi clan of the Village Hidden in the Clouds, he was one of the unrivaled master's of fear. Even his clothing, which made him look like a scarecrow was designed to inspire fear by making himself look inhuman. The mask he wore was the result of years of experience and design. It was created using a secret process to allow it to block out the neurotoxins and other fear inducing agents his clan used. But more importantly right now the mask was completely transparent on the inside. So while the examiners saw the black dots of his scarecrow mask looking studiously at his paper he could blatantly stare at his neighbors test.

Torio didn't know why the girl had waited to start giving answering the test, because it only made it look like she was cheating. But by watching her closely he could see that she knew the answers on her own. He hoped she wasn't stupid enough to think it would deter people from stealing her answers. After all, it didn't matter how she got them, if they were correct there was no reason not to steal them from her.

Not far away, conveniently sitting near the center of the room Torio's teammate, Satsu Tenshi had finally finished cleaning, polishing and reassembling her gauntlets. Now that she'd seen all of the answers by seeing the reflection of several people's test papers in the now shiny pieces of her gauntlets she could start writing them down.

Hakumei Kanojiro had it far easier than either of his two teammates. His Kurogan allowed him to astral project himself over the room allowing him to look over any test in detail. He'd paid particular attention to Uzumaki Naruto. Most everything he could find out about him from the villagers in Konoha indicated that he was the village idiot with no particular talent, except for a few tittering girls who obviously were enamored of him. Though, it was obvious that the entire village was hiding something about the boy and that made him even more curious.

Uzumaki's test didn't help Kanojiro resolve the ambiguities in the information he'd gathered about the leaf ninja. Uzumaki had only answered seven of the nine questions that they'd been given and his answers were different and less detailed than the ones everyone else was using. Was he so dumb he didn't realized that the whole point of the exercise was to test their covert information gathering skills, but he was smart enough to be able to answer eight out of nine of the questions or was he skipping one and giving shorter answers to keep it from looking like he was cheating?

While the Cloud's premier genin was contemplating the enigma that was Uzumaki Naruto, Mitarashi Bishamon had put his handcuffs back on and walked out of the bathroom to find his escort.

It seemed that he had been right. The hapless ninja he had stolen the answers from hadn't been good enough to steal the answers again. The very disgruntled genin was storming down the hall with two dejected looking ninja trailing behind him. But when he saw Bishamon he suddenly became furious and charged.

"Hold it right …" The Chuunin, Mihoshi started to yell, but stopped when her _prisoner_ ran past her. The boy flipped into the air so that he was upside-down with his feet nearly brushing the ceiling. When he landed somehow the handcuffs he was wearing were now on his attacker.

"Got a test to finish, bye," Bishimon chuckled as he left four shocked ninja behind. He didn't see the boy he'd handcuffed try to chase after him only to be jerked back by Mihoshi pulling on the chord connected to the handcuffs.

Mitarashi Bishamon was still laughing when rushed back into the test room.

"Quiet!" One of the chuunin commanded. "And where's your escort?"

"Well…" Bishamon stopped and scratched the back of his head. "We, uh…got attacked by someone that apparently didn't appreciate you guys kicking him out of the test."

"And you left her to deal with it alone?" Kakashi asked from his spot in the front of the room. His eyes never left his book, but his voice sounded disapproving.

"Well I detained the guy, but I needed to make sure I didn't miss the last question." Bishamon was beginning to worry that his little stunt might get him into trouble.

"Meh," Kakashi muttered. "Just get back in your seat. You've got a couple of minutes yet. I wanna finish reading this chapter first."

Relaxing a little Bishamon took his seat and did his best to act casual as he scribbled his answers down as quickly as he could. He'd just barely finished when he heard the chief examiner close his book.

"Well I guess it's time for the last question," Kakashi said lazily. The intent stares of the entire room didn't seem to faze him. "I guess I should tell you that the reason we're giving you this separately is that there's another rule for this question."

Kakashi smiled behind his mask when he heard the collective intake of breath as the genin in the room began to sweat over what this new rule was. "First you will have to decide if you'll even take the last question."

"And if we don't?" A voice called out.

Kakashi sighed, 'so much for them remembering not to ask questions,' he thought. "If you don't then you will fail and will be asked to leave out that door." Kakashi pointed to the side the door near the front of the room.

"Baka!" another ninja yelled. "Then why would anyone leave?"

Kakashi chuckled for a moment before he answered. "They'll leave, because of the last rule. This last question will be a competition in your squad. The answers will be graded on their accuracy and how detailed they are. The person with the worst answer will never be able to become a chuunin, even if your team passes this test."

"What!"

"That's not fair"

"You can't do that!"

"Yes, I can!" Kakashi said harshly. "You're in this test to become Chuunin! If you can't handle the consequences of your decisions, how are we supposed to be able to trust you to lead a team?"

Kakashi looked over the silent crowd before continuing. "So now's your chance, anyone that isn't willing to take this question please raise you hand, and you and your teammates will be asked to exit out that door." Kakashi pointed again, while eyeing everyone intently.

* * *

While everyone at the test was drinking in the consequences of taking the last question, Tsunade was drinking in something else. Sitting behind her desk, which was covered with untouched paper work and several bottles. The fifth Hokage was biting her thumb while deep in thought despite her semi-inebriated state when her assistant Shizune opened the door to admit her guest. 

"Hokage-sama!" Shizune scolded as she rusted toward her Sensei's desk. "What are you doing drinking while there's work to be done?" The younger woman immediately began to grab the bottles.

"Do you think they'll be all right?" Tsunade asked absently as she refilled her cup with one of the bottles that her assistant had yet to grab.

Shizune stopped. Still hunched over the desk holding one bottle in the air she examined the Hokage's face. Shizune knew that Tsunade cared a great deal about Naruto-kun. She did too. And right now worry was written all over her teacher's face.

"You're the one that keeps telling me about how powerful that girl is," Shizune straightened up and placed the bottle in her hand with the others she was carrying under her arm. "If what you've told me is true, than there is no way her little sister can beat her."

"But they have to get to the fight," Tsunade's sentence was punctuated by her head jerking back as she emptied her cup. "There are two tests before then and they can't all be beaten by a strong fist."

"Hinata's always made it before," Kurenai stepped toward the Hokage's desk and spoke for the first time since entering the room

"So has Sakura," Shizune was quick to add. Though, she left out that Sakura had only taken the test once.

Tsunade didn't look convinced so before she could object Kurenai spoke up. "I fought Hinata recently."

This definitely got the Fifth Hokage's interest. "So, how did she do?"

"It was like fighting a totally different person," Kurenai replied. "Her fighting style was very different and very confusing and my genjutsu was useless."

"Was she able to fight with her full power?" Tsunade asked.

"I don't think so," Kurenai admitted, but she continued before the Fifth could say anything. "But she fought a lot harder and with a lot more confidence than she used to and was able to bring herself to hit me solidly. I'm sure she'll be able to bring herself to defeat her sister now."

Tsunade considered the Jounin's answer. Hinata definitely wouldn't need to use her full strength on her sister. She'd probably kill the little girl if she did. It was all a question of if she could bring herself to hurt her little sister. If she could, she'd win. But she still had to get there. "But the first test doesn't involve fighting, they have to pass Kakashi-kun's test."

"She's on a team with Sakura and Naruto, the only team to ever pass Kakashi-san's bell test. They'll be able to pass his test again."

"But what if the bet influences their decision?" Tsunade suddenly felt much worse

"Don't worry. Naruto will find a way." Shizune replied

"You've put all your faith and all of you dreams for the future in him," Kurenai looked directly into Tsunade's quavering eyes. "You shouldn't be the first to doubt him."

"Why do you believe in him so much?" Tsunade asked.

"I don't," Kurenai replied. "But Hinata does, and that's good enough for me."

* * *

Sakura thought as fast as she could. She was so absorbed in thought she didn't notice the first two teams give up. They absolutely couldn't fail this test. Hinata had to become a chuunin or she and Naruto would be marked. So if one of them had to be prevented from ever becoming a Chuunin, Sakura would choose herself. It went against her principles, and she'd never done it before, but Sakura was sure she could not only intentionally get the question wrong, but get the worst possible answer. 

Once she came to this decision, Sakura looked up to see Naruto raising his hand.

"Do you give up Naruto-kun?" Kakashi asked.

"Uzumaki Naruto never gives up," Naruto slammed his fist on the table. "If one of us can't ever be a Chuunin, that I'll make sure my answer is the worse to make sure that Hinata and Sakura-chan can. I won't ever turn my back on my friends!"

Something flashed across Kakashi's one visible eye before his face, what could be seen of it anyway, turned furious. "There will be no cheating in this test Naruto-kun! You, Sakura-chan and Hinata-chan, through that door now." Kakashi's whole arm quivered as he pointed toward the side door.

"What?!" Naruto screamed. "But Hin…"

"My word is final," Kakashi's voice drowned out his former student. "Through that door all of you!" Kakashi stared Naruto down until he got moving. "And no grumbling," he yelled when Naruto started to mutter.

Naruto was too dejected to notice the raised hands his that immediately followed his outburst, including the reaction of the girl in the seat next to him. Vainly trying to figure out what he could do he didn't even notice the two teams sitting in the room he'd walked into until he heard a chuunin in the front of the room calling out for everyone to sit down and wait, because the chief examiner wanted to talk to them after the test was over.

Sitting down at one of the chairs in the room, Naruto turned to his teammates. "I'm sorry Hinata, I've let you down…" Naruto began to apologize, but was drowned out by shrill screaming.

Everyone's eyes turned to the smallest genin in the room, Hyuuga Hanabi as she began screaming at her teammate for giving up and getting them all thrown out of the test. Fortunately everyone that came in afterward just sat down like everyone else, because no one could hear the chuunin in the front of the room, or anyone else for that matter.

Hanabi was still yelling when Kakashi finally stepped through the door and shut it behind him. "That's enough yelling little girl." Kakashi had to yell as loud as he could just to be heard.

Hanabi glared at the jounin who'd interrupted her. "Who are you calling a little girl? Thanks to my idiot teammate, we're here instead of in there." She pointed back toward the room they'd come from

"Then you should be thanking you teammate," Kakashi smirked behind his mask.

"Why should I do that?" Hanabi asked archly. Now that they weren't in the test she saw no reason to act submissive in front of a commoner.

"Because, everyone in there failed?"

"What?"

"No way!"

"How?"

People all over the room began asking questions at once. "Because the only people that got the last question right are in this room," Kakashi answered.

"But how can anyone here have gotten the answer right, we weren't allowed to get it, because our teammates gave up!" Hanabi whined.

"Giving up was the correct answer." Kakashi looked pleased.

"But how can giving up be the answer?" Hanabi interrupted.

"A ninja must always look underneath the underneath. The last question wasn't designed to test you knowledge or even you ability to covertly gather information like the first nine. The last question was designed to see what you're made of."

"So only cowards can pass your test!" Hanabi yelled scornfully. "A ninja has to be willing to risk their lives on every mission. Cowards that give up on missions and don't follow their orders are scum! And I trust my skill, so I'm always willing to risk my life on any mission."

"But it wasn't your life you were risking now was it?" Kakashi replied. "It was your teammates. It was easy to think that you won't be the one of your three-man cell that does the worst on your question. Just like it will be easy to think that you won't be the one to die on a dangerous mission; but what about your teammates? It's true that we call cowards that don't follow orders or abandon missions scum, but those who abandon their friends are less than scum. If you're the type of coward who's willing to let a teammate die to save your own life, then you have no business leading a team of ninja.

"In Konoha we have a monument with the names of all the shinobi who have died to protect their home. My sensei and my best friends' names are engraved on that stone. I invite all of you after this exam is over to take a look at that stone and remember that generations of shinobi have given their lives so that you could be here today. Remember that when you became a shinobi you inherited a powerful legacy. Now is not the time to celebrate, you have a lot to live up to."

Kakashi paused to let what he'd said sink in before he dismissed them. "Your next exam starts immediately. Make your way to training area 44. If you can't find it just ask someone how to get to the _Forest of Death_."

* * *

End Chapter 8 

I apologize for how long this took to get out. I had actually finished the first draft over a week ago. I kept forgetting to get this out to betas and when I finally did I found I had trouble getting the E-Mails to everyone who volunteered. Sadly I realized in the history of this story only two of the people I'd ever sent chapters to have ever responded with any corrections and I'd lost their E-Mails, so I don't remember who they were.

So I'm releasing this chapter without beta work and if any one would like to be a dedicated beta for this story please contact me and I will save your E-Mail in a safe place this time. If any of you would like, feel free to copy this chapter into a word document and send it back to me with any errors or comments highlighted, Bolded or in another color and I will update the chapter with any corrections it needs.

So stay tuned in for the next chapter of Hinata's Story: Fun in the Forest

See how Hinata reacts to sleeping next to Naruto-kun and how she deals with the vulgar hussy trying to steal him away from her!


	9. Into the Forest of Death

Hinata's Story: Underneath Your Clothes

Chapter 9: Into the Forest of Death

* * *

See Chapter 1 and if you're hiding in a forest, because you've charged someone to read this, be sure to watch out for chakra draining leaches and other types of lawyers…I mean bloodsuckers.

* * *

Hinata and Sakura were finally arriving at Training Area 44, The Forest of Death. As soon as they'd gotten out of the academy Sakura ordered Naruto to go ahead of them. While she dragged Hinata off down a side street, taking a more round about way so she could grill Hinata for information about why she and Naruto had been acting so funny when they had arrived. Had he held her hand? Had they kissed? 

Hinata had done her best to play down her being in the hospital. She didn't want anyone to know why she was in there. And she definitely didn't want anyone other than Naruto to know how often she was there. But Sakura had managed to drag out the story about the nurse that had teased them. Then Hinata had to wait for Sakura to finish laughing. Sakura even said she was going to track down that nurse to ask how Naruto and Hinata had looked when she'd done it.

Hinata had hoped that would be the end of it, but Sakura had smelled more. She questioned her doggedly until Hinata gave in and told her about Moegi and what, or more correctly who, Moegi had asked her to consider. Sakura only laughed at that one for a moment before she made sure Hinata hadn't told Moegi about how she felt. Then she made Hinata discuss all of her insecurities and fears about losing Naruto-kun. Then Sakura suggested several ways she could tell him or show him how she felt.

By the time they arrived, and Sakura was forced to relent, Hinata had been emotionally exhausted by everything Sakura had forced her to admit and completely embarrassed by all of her suggestions. So, now that they were finally at the edge of the Forest of Death, she had hoped that the emotional rollercoaster she'd been going through would come to an end. She immediately looked around for Naruto-kun. With a practiced HinhhhHhlkjaslkj

eye, she searched the crowd for the flash of orange that would reveal to her the location of her beloved teammate. And immediately she saw him, talking to that vulgar with the whip and some other girl with two quivers full of arrows!

That was it! She'd waited too long and now she'd lost her chance; other girls were starting to realize how wonderful he was. She should have told him as soon as they got out of that classroom now that she realized that that…that…that HUSSY was after him. She couldn't lose him to a vulgar girl like that. Naruto doesn't need some vulgar girl like that hussy. He needs someone who will love him and cherish him and lavish him with affection. And Hinata was willing to ravish him with affection.

Sakura was livid. She had just spent she didn't know how long trying to help Naruto get together with the girl that has been in love with him since _forever_, only to find him using that same time to get close to a couple of Janie-come-latelys. She recognized the tramp with the whip, but she didn't know who the floozy with the quivers full of arrows was.

Inner Sakura didn't know who she wanted to stick those arrows in more; Naruto for ruining all of her hard work or those two sluts that were after Hinata's man! But one thing was for certain she needed a new pincushion! Shah!

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled as she stomped toward her wayward teammate heedless of the blushing girl following her. "After all the time I just spent…" Sakura stopped herself. She'd just told Hinata that she had to be sure that she was the one that told Naruto about her feelings. It wouldn't be good if she went and ruined it now. Sakura had to stop herself several times as she tried to berate Naruto for ruining everything before she finally settled for, "What do you think you're doing?"

"I was just talking to Kei-san and Yumi-san here while I was waiting…" Naruto replied penitently.

"We need to talk to you," Sakura glared at the two tramps, "_alone_."

"So are you and Hinata finished with your girl Taaaalk?" Naruto screeched when Sakura grabbed him by the ear and began to drag him away from the poachers.

"Sorry, team business, gotta go," Naruto smiled and waved seemingly oblivious to the manhandling Sakura was giving him or the glares the two girls were giving his teammates.

Sakura didn't let go of Naruto's ear until they'd gotten to a secluded spot where she could chew him out without being overheard by everyone. "Those girls aren't right for you," Sakura said after making sure the other girls hadn't followed them.

"Huh?" Naruto was confused

"You might think those girls are pretty, but they're not the type of girl for you," Sakura tried to explain without giving anything away she shouldn't.

"You don't have to remind me Sakura-chan," Naruto started studying the dirt under his feet. "One glimpse of what I keep imprisoned and they would probably just run away like all the rest."

Sakura was sorry she'd said anything. She couldn't believe how depressed Naruto suddenly looked. She'd never seen him like that. He was always so loud and obnoxious and happy. But more than that he always had this determined glint in his eye and now he just looked so…defeated.

"I'm sure they wouldn't…" Hinata began, but the look in Naruto's eyes when he looked at her stopped her cold. It hurt her.

"It's all right Hinata," Naruto forced himself to smile. "You don't have to…"

"But Naruto-kun…" Hinata said weakly meeting his eyes to try and say what she couldn't.

"Thank you," Naruto's smile softened.

Sakura looked at her teammates dumb struck. The looks the two of them sent back and forth seemed to speak volumes. When had they learned to communicate with their eyes like that?

"Anyway," Naruto cleared his throat and was suddenly all business. "That girl Kei-san, the one with the whip, is on Hinata's sister's team. The third member of their team is a boy who uses mud jutsus. He usually attacks first with a mud jutsu that traps their opponents' feet while Kei-san walks on top of the mud to attack her opponents with her whip, which she can channel chakra through. Hinata's sister usually expels chakra out of her legs to walk through the mud and disable their opponents with Hyuuga style Jyuuken. So we'll want to watch out for mud and be sure we stay on top of it, but if we get stuck we should be able to get out by expelling chakra from our legs. They've never taken the exam before so they don't have a strategy for how they're going to take the test yet.

"Yumi-san wasn't so easy to get information out of. She wouldn't tell me how she used her bow and arrows, but she did promise to show me what she could do after the exam was over." Naruto paused for a moment when he thought he heard Hinata growling, but decided to continue with the information he'd gleaned. "She's on a team with two other guys. One of them is the one with all the concealed weapons that said he had to use the bathroom during the test. She wouldn't say, but from the looks of it he probably did steal that guy's paper. She wouldn't talk about her teammates, but she did say that the other one spends all of his time training and gets banged up from it a lot. I'm guessing he's a real tough customer. This was their first time taking the test too, so they don't have a strategy, but her teammates were trying to get information from some of the older participants."

Sakura was shocked speechless. Naruto hadn't been flirting with those girls; he'd been pumping them for information. The old Naruto could never have done that. It took her a couple moments after Naruto was finished briefing his teammates before she could speak again. "When did you learn how to do that?"

"Well…um, Ero-Senin taught me a lot about how to get information from people," Naruto blushed thinking about some of the ways he'd done that. The old pervert had made him watch while he chatted up girls in bars; then made him practice doing it too. "And getting information from flirty girls is actually pretty easy." Naruto didn't dare look his teammates in the eye.

"Wait a minute," Sakura said suspiciously. "That girl with the arrows didn't suspect you were trying to get information about her team did she?"

"No, I don't think so," Naruto replied nervously. "She seemed to just know better than to give anyone much information about her team. And she seemed to think I was some kind of proctor for the exam and kept trying to get information about this part of the exam from me."

"What did you tell her?" Sakura asked accusingly.

"Nothing, I said I'd only ever taken the exam once before and all I remembered was that we had to do something in the forest last time that put the teams against each other. When she asked for more I told her how we'd walked into a genjutsu trap that made us run around in circles. I bragged about all the clones I fought off before we finally got the real ones. They ate it all up. Yumi-san kept trying to get more information about the test, but she just kind of pouted and begged; like that would work on me." Naruto grunted dismissively.

Sakura's eyes sparkled mischievously at that last comment. "That reminds me, how did you gather the information for the last test?" Sakura smiled and clasped her hands in front of her. When Naruto only mumbled unintelligibly she pouted. "Please Naruto, you can tell me. Please…Please."

"Well ehh," Naruto put one hand behind his head nervously. "I knew most of the answers already, so I figured it would be best to just leave the ones I didn't know blank rather than risk losing points."

"What?" Sakura was shocked. There was no way that Naruto could be that smart.

"Ero-sennin mainly taught me how to talk to people and subtly get the information I wanted, but I couldn't talk to anyone about anything in the exam or someone would have thought I was cheating whether I was or not."

"Eh…?" Sakura was too shocked to speak intelligibly. It was hard to believe that Naruto could have changed this much. Jiraiya-sama must have been a great teacher to transform Naruto this much.

Sakura came out of her shock-induced stupor when she detected two new people arriving. All of cell alpha turned to look toward the two puffs of smoke that heralded the arrival of two ninja.

Shikamaru looked around at the genin teams through the smoke that was quickly dissipating, revealing his companion and himself. He'd taken this job hoping that no one would make it this far. He knew Kakashi had only ever passed one genin team so he'd hoped that after he took charge of the first exam there would hardly be anyone passing. He secretly hoped there wouldn't be any at all. Even he could be wrong it seemed. "Troublesome," he muttered quietly.

"I can't believe there are nearly thirty teams left. You said this Kakashi guy was even tougher than the one we had to take that test from." Shikamaru's companion, Temari of the Sand complained.

"He's known for having only ever passed one team on to become genin." Shikamaru replied lazily while inwardly complaining about annoying blond women with short skirts and giant fans strapped on their backs. "How was I supposed to know that one of them would come back six months early?"

"That Naruto he was complaining about was his student?" For some reason Temari seemed surprised.

"Uh-huh," The lazy chuunin muttered.

"But isn't he the one that beat…"

"So you keep saying," Shikamaru mumbled while looking over the assembled genin who were all silently watching the newcomers.

Seeing that he had everyone's attention, Shikamaru decided that the sooner he got started the sooner he'd get this job over with. "All right everyone who hasn't already done so needs to step over to that table and fill out one of those waivers."

"What kind of waivers?" a voice from the crowd asked.

"Read them if you want to know," Shikamaru was definitely too lazy to go over everything they entailed. "They just keep me from having to fill out all kinds of paperwork for the people that die in there." Shikamaru pointed with his thumb over his shoulder at the fenced in forest behind him.

"After that last _test_ you expect us to believe that this place is that dangerous?" a voice mocked.

"Like the last test there are several aspects of this test designed to test your strength, skill and other merits." Shikamaru sounded bored as he began to explain. "Just surviving this forest is one of them. Only those strong enough to survive in there meet the absolute minimum level of strength needed to become a chuunin."

"Oh are there kitty-cats in there? I didn't know it was so dangerous." Another voice in the crowd jeered getting nervous chuckles out of the crowd.

"That's enough," Temari yelled. Unlike her partner she demanded respect. "Once you've filled out your waivers, each team that has decided to take this test will turn in their forms and receive one of these two types of scrolls."

Temari pulled out two scrolls, one green the other white, and held them out where everyone could see. One scroll had the sign for heaven and the other for earth. "The Forest of Death is five kilometers of forest surrounding a tower in the center. The area is fenced in with 44 gates unevenly spaced around it, from which individual teams will enter. Housed in this forest are a multitude of deadly plants and animals.

"Each team will have to brave not only the dangers of the forest, but also the other teams as they approach the tower. Your entire team will have to make it to the tower with one of each type of scroll before the time limit of exactly 120 hours after entering the forest to pass. You are further forbidden to open either of your scrolls until you arrive at the tower. Doing so will cause you to fail on the spot. And if any of your teammates die or are grievously injured before you arrive at the tower you will fail."

* * *

Inazuma Raika closed his eyes and smiled in anticipation. Soon it would be time to fulfill their mission. The Leaf pacifists hadn't given permission to kill the other teams, but in such a massive forest it would be hard to catch anyone that did. These waivers obviously weren't for any legal or political reasons. The treaties between nations that established these pacifistic exams would have covered any problems due to fatalities. No, these forms are meant to subtly let everyone know that the leaf examiners wouldn't be able to protect them in there. 

Raika had been so pleased when he'd been summoned away from his team by the Raikage to perform an S class mission. He'd been mildly disappointed when he learned that he'd been put on a new team with two other chuunin. That was ok as long as they did what he told them. He and his teammates were chosen because they were the youngest and most powerful chuunin in all of Lightning country. They, along with a team of the youngest and most powerful Jounin, led by the Hakumei clan prodigy, were to infiltrate the Konoha Chuunin Exam posing as genin.

But ever since he'd gotten here, he'd had to take a second seat to that Hakumei and his team. Raika had worked hard to get where he was, especially at his age. He had only been fifteen when he became a Chuunin of the village hidden in the clouds. And if he'd had the advantage of a powerful clan he'd be a jounin like that Hakumei that everyone worshipped. Raika didn't have some clan bloodline or clan jutsu to fall back on. He'd had to study and create his own techniques and fighting style, but now was his chance to show everyone that it was skill and hard training that mattered. Blood and the name of your clan can't save you on the field of battle.

A sick feeling filled Raika's stomach every time he thought about how he'd had to arrange it, but now he had the first shot at their target. He'd had to swallow his pride when he'd suggested that his team, being the _weaker_ of the two should soften the target up and measure their skills before the jounin team engaged the first target. But it didn't matter now that he'd be able to show up that insufferable Hakumei and take back the war reparations that Konoha had cheated the Village Hidden in the Clouds out of.

* * *

Since they knew who their first quarry would be it was a simple matter to see which gate they'd gone to, plot out their most likely course and determine where they could intercept them. Instead of heading straight toward the tower when the buzzer rang and their gate had opened, they had veered off and moved quickly through the trees to get ahead of their target and prepare an ambush. And it seemed that everything went without a hitch. 

The three of them were moving briskly through the forest completely oblivious to the danger that waited above them in the forest canopy. The all white eyes of the girl in the middle revealed her to be a Hyuuga. All she would have to do was activate her bloodline-limit and she would know immediately that they were there. But what good is even the greatest of all doujutsus if it's not used? The girl's teammates seemed to see how the girl's bloodline was wasted on her. They didn't even ask her to use her power to keep a lookout and they kept her in the middle where they could protect her.

Smiling predatorily the tree-bound stalker silently signaled to her other teammate in the trees. She would take the one in front. Only a fool of a ninja would wear such brightly colored clothes. She would take down the orange clad fool while her teammate would disable the pink haired one. That would leave the Hyuuga whose eyes were wasted on her for last. She wanted to see the look in those eyes when the girl realized that she'd lost her entire future. And once she had completed this mission, her status in her clan would be ensured.

The targets passed the appointed place. She jumped off her branch and sprung off the other to land behind her target, confident that her teammates were springing their attack at the same time. She landed gracefully on top of her teammate's mud trap just like her father taught her and struck out at the orange-clad blond.

Hanabi knew she was in trouble when the blond emitted a massive electrical pulse blowing her back against a tree and causing her body to jerk wildly for a moment as the electricity coursed through her. Looking up she saw the pink haired girl jumping away from Rensa Kei's whip and using a water jutsu to blow balls of water out of her mouth at Hanabi's sister's feet to free her. And her weakling sister was attacking Kei-san with the same jutsu knocking her back through the air before her feet had even touched the ground.

Looking back at the ninja she had attacked, Hanabi saw him stalking over Deido's mud and smirking savagely at her. "The cunning ninja chases his prey from in front," he said as he came to a stop with his hands on his hips. "He lets his prey believe themselves the predator and leads them to the battleground of his choice where he pounces on his unsuspecting victims."

"I don't know what bad blood you have with this team," The blond ninja continued, but his appearance was suddenly becoming hazy. "But once we knew who you intended to attack it was child's play to figure out your intended course and place ourselves in it." The images of the three Konoha ninjas distorted until it was just a mist surrounding three cloud ninja that evaporated away like fog in the sun.

In place of the obnoxious orange clad ninja stood a cloud ninja covered head to toe by a thick black body suit covering everything but his eyes. He had a strange metal disk tied to the middle of his chest with several wires coiled all over his body and wore a short staff on his back.

The other two opponents were much less interesting. In place of her sister, Hanabi saw an ordinary looking girl wearing a simple black jumpsuit with dark blue wraps. She didn't even appear to be armed with anything more than common kunai-knives and shuriken. And the pink haired girl didn't even turn out to be a girl at all. In her place stood a man wrapped in a grey high collared cloak concealing his face, clothes and any weapons he might be carrying from view.

Since the cloud ninja were being so accommodating as to let them recover Hanabi used the opportunity to get up slowly to give Kei-san time to limp back toward the group of attacking ninja. The girl stopped short of the group and began swinging her whip around her in a defensive pattern that would strike anyone that got too close. That was her signal that she was ready.

Hanabi sadly didn't have to fake the pain she was in. That electric shock made most of her muscles ache, but she'd never let something like fatigue and sore muscles stop her before. She wobbled on her feet before she settled into a battered looking fighting stance and smirked. That was her signal that she was ready.

Instead of attacking immediately the wire covered cloud ninja who seemed to be the leader started to lecture them. "A wise ninja never…"

Suraido-san's timing was perfect. The wall of mud from his doronami/mud wave/ no jutsu washed right over the unsuspecting cloud ninja. Hanabi and Kei charged back toward the cloud ninja, their apparent injuries no longer evident.

But the Konoha ninja weren't the only ones less affected by their enemies attack then they let on. Hanabi's byakugan watched the wire covered ninja leap high into the air where the mud wave was thinner. He grabbed the metal buckle on his waist and channeled chakra in it just as the wave hit causing it to explode as a massive pulse of electricity was emitted off the cloud ninja's body allowing him to land unscathed in front of Hanabi.

The Cloud ninja's teammates weren't quite so impressive. They fired several more of their water bullet attacks breaking through the thin wall of mud. Suraido's attacks wouldn't normally have been so easily breached, but he'd had to make this attack too tall and wide for the enemy ninja to avoid which spread his attack a little thin.

Once through, the cloud ninja fired several more water bullets in hopes of hitting one of their opponents, but the shots were blind and Kei didn't have to slow her charge to avoid them. Suraido's techniques were best suited for long-range attacks. He didn't even leave the shadows of his hiding place.

Hanabi didn't have any more time to worry about her teammates. Her opponent had just landed in front of her and this time the electrical ninja didn't waste any time before attacking her. Hanabi blocked his first punch and was electrocuted for her efforts. The shock left her open for a moment and the electrical ninja's next punch got through sending a massive jolt of electricity into her body causing Hanabi to nearly loose consciousness. If she hadn't leapt away the next attack would have finished her.

She dodged his next punch instead of blocking it, but electricity still arced off of his arm shocking her. This time the surprise and slight pain didn't prevent her from dodging two more blows and countering with one of her own. Her palm shot forward under his guard and slapped him in the stomach. Pain jolted all the way up her arm.

Inazuma Raika smiled under his mask as the Hyuuga girl, Hanabi jumped away from him. He hadn't been able to block her attack, but he had managed to pump some extra chakra into his belt buckle so when she hit him she took an even larger than average shock from his suit. It worked better when he used his hands to charge his suit, but it had been a desperate move.

Despite his smirk, however, Raika wanted to beat the fool that told him about how much Hyuuga Jyuuken strikes hurt for not describing it nearly well enough. He didn't want to let the Hyuuga girl know that she'd hurt him so he let her get away for a moment to rethink her strategy. He wondered if she'd realize that it was hopeless. His suit gathered static as he moved and once he flipped the switch in his belt anyone that touched him, whether to block his attacks or attack him in some way, would be shocked by it. And the rings he wore were perfect focuses for his electric chakra making his punches devastatingly powerful. Beating him with taijutsu alone would be impossible, and if taijutsu was all that the girl could do she was going too lose painfully.

Hanabi tested her arm as she retook her stance. It burned like she'd been standing on her hand for an hour, but she could definitely still use it. Her attacks might be slightly slower and less precise, but that was all.

For some reason the cloud ninja wasn't charging after her. She could see the satisfaction in his eyes as if he'd some how tricked her. Then his eyes moved showing he was remembering a pain from his past. So he was trying to hide how much her attack had hurt him. The fool, Hanabi thought, she knew that her attack hurt him no matter how he acted. There was no way to block Jyuuken!

The suit he was wearing obviously shocked anyone who touched it or came with in an inch of it, but his attacks were stronger, so they must be different. The secret when blocking a Jyuuken strike was to intercept the attack below the hand and push it away from your body to prevent yourself from being harmed by the chakra in your opponent's hand. But here she wouldn't be able to avoid being shocked by her opponent if she blocked or attacked. And because the defense was electric it would jump to her and cause her muscles to jerk before her blow connected. Hanabi bet that with conventional taijutsu the muscle spasms would cause the blow to be significantly weakened, but that wouldn't affect her Jyuuken. As long as she avoided the blows from his fists she could defeat him.

Suraido had been sending dense gobs of mud at the two ninja attacking Kei, which was the only thing keeping the two Kumo-nin from overpowering her despite the range advantage her whip gave her. He kept moving, staying out of sight to prevent detection and allowing him to keep an eye on the whole battle. Hanabi-chan wasn't doing any better than Kei. The electric Kumo-nin had forced her back and she looked ragged. He seemed to have her outmatched one on one. So watching her for the perfect time, he used his Dorohane /mud spatter/ no jutsu, and launched several mud balls at Hanabi's opponent just before she leapt into action.

Hanabi's ever present smirk widened as her opponent, his attention too fixed on her was struck by several mud balls knocking him back. His guard wavered and Hanabi attacked, ignoring the pain from the ninja's electrically suit.

Suraido turned his attention back toward his other teammate who was about to be overcome. He heated the mud underneath one of the enemy ninja causing it to bubble knocking the female Kumo-nin off her feet and giving Kei the room to jump away from the onslaught.

Hanabi was unconcerned. She was sure she didn't need any more cover to beat the electric ninja. In fact now that she knew what to expect from him and how to beat him she didn't really need the distraction Suraido-san had just provided, but she wasn't going to complain this time.

Now that she wasn't jumping back or losing concentration every time she was shocked Hanabi found it easier to get in attacks on her opponent and the fight became much more even. Hanabi knew she was getting hurt, but she figured she could withstand a lot more of these electrical attacks than the electric ninja could withstand from her Jyuuken.

Raika seemed to agree with her. Deciding he didn't like the way the fight was going he leapt away from the Hyuuga girl and pulled out the staff he'd been wearing on his back and started to spin it rapidly around his body.

Hyuuga eyes can see chakra in all its forms. Even when that chakra has been turned into one of its elemental forms a Hyuuga can tell the difference. But the Byakugan of the Hyuuga cannot see real electricity. But maybe if Hyuuga Hanabi could have seen the massive static charge the staff was collecting inside itself due to all of the cloud ninja's spinning she would have been more hesitant to attack him.

But she didn't and just like Inazuma Raika had planned she charged straight at him hoping to finish him off. The only warning she got was a small pulse of chakra into the staff before it doubled in size and came straight at her. She managed to cross her arms in front of her to block the force of the blow, but the massive amount of electrical current contained in the staff continued unimpeded into her and blasted her back.

Channeling electric chakra into the staff to recharge it Raika charged his prone opponent. That was the staff's main weakness. Any movement through the air recharged it, but it took a short time to gather enough charge from air friction as it moved to be useful for an attack. So if he wanted to use its electric power on sequential attacks it had to be charged by the user's chakra. Seeing his chance the cloud ninja leapt into the air and swung his staff at the Hyuuga girl who was still twitching on the ground. Once she was gone he would send his teammates Genzou and Mumei after the mud user while he defeated the whip girl.

But he didn't get the chance. Before his blow landed a foot impacted his shoulder sending him past his opponent and skidding across the grass.

"NARUTO!" Sakura yelled at her teammate who was standing where the electric Kumo-nin had been before Naruto had effortlessly knocked him away. At the sound of her voice all of the fighting stopped as everyone reevaluated their position, trying to determine whether this new team would be friend or foe. "What were you thinking? If they lose their scrolls then Hinata will win without even having to face her sister. Then neither of you get that death mark and Hinata's clan can never do anything to her again."

Sakura stood glaring with her fists clenched and pressed into her hips. Hinata prowled gracefully behind her.

"If Hinata doesn't fight her sister one on one and in front of everyone nothing will be solved," Naruto responded. "Deal or no deal, the Hyuuga will never leave her alone until they respect her for how powerful she really is. Besides, that little girl is Hinata's sister." Naruto pointed at Hanabi, who was climbing back to her feet. "Hinata would never want anything to happen to her."

"Thank you Naruto-kun," Hinata said quietly.

Sakura was shocked. Ever since she had learned about what Hinata's family had been doing to her she had hated them for it. When she first saw Hinata's little sister, Sakura knew that the stuck up little shrew was just as guilty as the rest of the family. Sakura had never thought that despite all that the Hyuuga were still Hinata's family and despite everything she might still love them. Had the time that Naruto spent with Hinata brought him close enough to the shy girl that he knew her better than Sakura did? Or was it that due to his not having a family Naruto couldn't possibly understand how people that were related could possibly hate each other?

Hanabi got over her surprise at Naruto's actions fairly quickly and unlike Sakura she was not feeling introspective. The young Hyuuga was furious. "I don't need help to defeat my sister or anyone else who is in the range of my divination!" And with that statement Hanabi wobbled and charged after the cloud ninja she had been fighting.

Raika stood up slowly as he attempted to determine the intentions of the new players on the field of battle. But the sound of the little Hyuuga girl screaming drew his attention. He was suddenly terrified as he watched her wobble in the stance the bingo-book described as the one the Hyuuga used just before they sealed away all of their victims chakra. She stood sideways, facing him over her shoulder, both knees bent with both arms extended out from her sides palm up.

Then she charged, rushing straight for him before she planted one foot and spun around to strike him with her fingers. Desperate Raika grabbed his belt with both hands and channeled as much chakra as he could as quickly as he could into his belt buckle to defend himself. He felt two immense stabbing pains, then four more before he was able to gather enough electrical chakra for his Juudenki Denpa /Electric Pulse/ no jutsu.

The cloud ninja emitted an even more powerful electric pulse than he had previously and Hanabi was blasted away. Her body bounced off a tree and tumbled lifelessly onto the ground.

"Hanabi-chan!" Hinata squeaked.

"Kiri Ranshin /Traitor's Mist/ no Jutsu!" a female voice yelled out without warning. Sakura was just able to see the enemy ninja's forms blur and become mirror images of her team before a massive bank of fog rolled in.

"I'll take care of your sister," Sakura said as she dashed toward where the girl had fallen before the mist got too thick for her to see. "They've henged into us, try not to fight anyone but yourself," Sakura yelled.

The mud user, Suraido seemed to have a different idea. "Doton ookiku doronami no jutsu /Earth Style grand Mud Wave Technique/," his voice boomed.

Sakura jumped into the air remembering what Naruto had said about this team's mud techniques. She landed on top of the bog of mud right next to Hanabi just in time to carefully pull her out of the sludge from her apparently uncaring teammate's jutsu. Sakura didn't want to move the girl before she ran her diagnostic jutsus for fear of spinal injuries or possibly exacerbating some other injury. But if the girl drowned in mud it would be very difficult to get her lungs cleared out.

Trying to pay as much attention to what was happening around her as she could, Sakura confirmed that Hanabi was still breathing and laid her teammate's sister on the mud as gently as she could before she ran her diagnostic jutsus. It was very dangerous to heal someone on the battlefield, especially with none of her teammates nearby. Normally she'd be able to count on them to protect her, but with this thick mist she couldn't see them and didn't know if they even knew where she was or that she wouldn't be able to defend herself for a couple of minutes.

"How is she?" Naruto's voice caught Sakura off guard. She looked up to see him approaching her.

"Nothing life threatening. Her muscles are severely fatigued and burned, but that will heal with rest." Sakura stopped her diagnosis, when she heard her own voice swearing viciously through the fog. "Naruto, do you remember that password that Sasuke-kun used during our last chuunin exam?" Sakura asked casually hoping that whoever was in front of her, the real Naruto or not wouldn't be able to tell she was suspicious.

"That was so long ago, I can't remember," he whined, as he continued to walk toward her.

"Stay back," Sakura heard Hinata's voice yell as two kunai passed through where Naruto's chest had been. Naruto had jumped back doing a flip in the air and allowing the knives to pass harmlessly underneath him and out of sight through the fog.

"Hinata wait!" Sakura yelled, racking her brain trying to think of things she could ask her teammates that only they would know. Not knowing who her real teammates were, if either of them were, she grabbed Hanabi and jumped into a near by tree.

"Hinata-cha-an," Naruto whined. "Why did you have to…?"

Naruto's voice was cut off by Hinata's yell as she charged straight at him. "You don't talk like Naruto-kun!"

"You don't act like Naruto-kun," Hinata punctuated her sentence with a kick the blond was barely able to avoid.

"You don't smile like Naruto-kun," Hinata's managed to strike her target's arm with her fingers this time.

"You don't move like Naruto-kun," This time Hinata managed to strike him in the chest.

"You don't fight like Naruto-kun," Both of Hinata's arms made it through his defenses this time.

"How do you expect to fool me?!" Hinata screamed as she spun around and pounded the blond haired ninja in the face with a glowing fist that launched him into the air.

Sakura was about to try to reason with Hinata when she heard Naruto's voice booming through the fog, "As if Hinata could ever be so weak!" A loud slapping, crunching sound of flesh on flesh and then the gurgling sound of something falling into the mud followed his voice.

The mist immediately began to clear and the Naruto that Hinata had been pummeling reverted back into the electric cloud ninja as he slid through the mud. Looking to the side Sakura saw the last Cloud-nin shackled in some kind of mud jutsu. He had that whip-girl's whip wrapped around him and she was using it to drag him through the mud. Her teammate, the mud user casually walking beside her didn't seem inclined to so much as offer to help her.

Before the other two leaf ninja could get too close Naruto skidded up next to Hinata sending mud at the approaching shinobi. Then without a glance or even a word between them Naruto and Hinata backed up against each other.

Sakura was shocked. Just a month ago she would have told you that if Naruto and Hinata had so much as accidentally brushed up against each other Hinata would faint dead away. Even earlier today she would have sworn that there was no way Hinata could intentionally touch Naruto unless they were fighting each other. Just talking to Hinata about Naruto touching her had been known to cause her to lose it. But here they were intentionally standing back to back, each in a relaxed stance as if they'd been fighting that way forever!

The sound of whirring shuriken brought Sakura's attention back to the fight. Kunai in hand Hinata was ready to deflect them before they got to their target. But these shuriken weren't normal. As soon as they touched her knife blue streams of energy arced off of them. Hinata was barely able to deflect all of them before the pain of the electric shock brought her to her knees and forced her to drop her blade.

A volley of knives came next. Without any hesitation Naruto threw his own kunai and jumped over Hinata's still quavering form and charged at her attacker. The knives met in mid air but instead of being knocked aside the cloud shinobi's weapons exploded sending large arcs of electricity in all directions. Naruto had to stop his charge to keep from being electrocuted leaving him flatfooted and unable to see the cloud ninja charging or the next volley of knives he threw.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled, trying to warn him of the impending danger, but it was useless. By the time Naruto saw the blades flying through the smoke it was too late. Naruto wrapped his arms around himself to try and protect himself and Hinata from the deadly projectiles. But it wasn't necessary.

"Kaiten," Hinata yelled as she lunged past Naruto and started to spin. She planted her foot, and leaning back, spun around on that leg. The knives exploded on impact with the white dome Hinata's chakra created. The electricity however wasn't completely deflected and shocked her leaving her to fall on her knees screaming in pain, but not before the charging cloud ninja was blasted up in the air by the force of her divine whirl.

The cloud ninja, Inazuma Raika had cut it too close. He waited to throw his explosive throwing knives until he would be just outside the blast radius when they hit Naruto. But when they were intercepted early, he was hit by their electric shockwave and left helpless as he was blasted by the girl's technique up into the air.

Raika was unable to move as Naruto arced gracefully toward him in the air. And the ringing in his ears kept him from hearing Naruto's cry of "Hinata and Naruto Rendan/Combo/," as Naruto twisted in mid air and sent his heel down on Raika's head. The cloud ninja landed head first before slumping unconscious into the mud.

Naruto didn't waste a moment when he landed and immediately rushed to Hinata's side. "Hinata, are you all right?" He asked as he helped the shy girl up out of the mud.

Hinata for her part struggled against her aching muscles to get up; embarrassed by her weakness. Without a thought Naruto reached around her and pulled her up. "Come on; let's get you over to Sakura so she can check you out. Then we can get somewhere where you can clean up and rest."

Hinata blushed, but she couldn't enjoy the close contact she currently had with Naruto. "I-I-I'm sorry for getting you dirty," she said instead of what she really wanted to apologize for.

"It's ok," Naruto said nervously and then lowered his head in silence as they slowly walked back toward their remaining teammate.

Screwing up her courage to finally tell him what she'd been meaning to say she called his name softly only for him to speak hers at the same time. Hinata lowered her head, causing her not to see Naruto do the same. Afraid of what she wanted to say, Hinata waited for Naruto-kun to speak hoping to delay what she needed to tell him. After several moments of silence except for the sound of their footsteps sloshing in the ankle high mud, Hinata was about to speak again when Naruto finally spoke.

"I'm sorry," Naruto muttered causing Hinata to turn her head to look at him blankly. "I'm sorry I let you get hurt like that."

"It's not your fault," Hinata replied quickly before looking back down. "It's mine," she said after a pause. "I couldn't keep up with you, I was too weak and I got hurt…a-a-and I got in your way."

"You weren't in my way," Naruto replied softly. "That was great teamwork! We protected each other. Didn't you see how we double-teamed him? You set him up and I knocked him back down. We beat that guy like the chump that he is," Naruto's voice kept getting louder until he trailed off. "I just didn't want you to get hurt protecting me like that…"

"But I could never let you get hurt Naruto-kun," Hinata said earnestly before quickly looking away.

"Thank you, Hinata." Naruto kept his face turned away from Hinata so only his voice revealed the depth of his emotion.

"Ehem," Deido Suraido coughed loudly. "I hate to interrupt this touching scene, but we're on a battlefield and would like to collect our teammate and leave."

Naruto and Hinata would have jumped apart if Naruto hadn't been holding her up. As it was they jerked and looked away from each other. Sakura was furious. They had been making so much progress! "Be quiet and maybe in a million years you'll grow up enough to understand."

Suraido was about to retort when Naruto, fearing for the boy's life if he kept annoying Sakura, interrupted. "Wait a minute, which scroll do you have?"

The mud user jerked around to scowl at Naruto. "Hold on a minute. We may have an unconscious teammate, but neither of us is beat up as badly as you two have been. If you fight us, it will be us taking your scroll!"

Naruto just shook his head as he walked past Sakura to set Hinata down on a tree root. "Will you take a look at her Sakura? Between that punk's kunai and being electrocuted when I was punching him my body hurts like I've been training hard for days, but I think the blast Hinata got might have been worse."

Then, still ignoring a now fuming Suraido, Naruto trudged over to where Sakura had laid Hanabi and begun to rummage through her belt pouch.

"What do you think you're…?" Suraido yelled.

"So you have an earth scroll," Naruto exclaimed as he threw the scroll straight at the yelling mud user, shutting him up.

Not wanting to deal with the mud anymore Naruto stepped on top of it and began walking toward the lightning user. Everyone watched Naruto in shock wondering just what he was doing. Apparently oblivious to everyone's questioning looks Naruto heaved the cloud ninja out of the mud and began rummaging through his pockets until he pulled out what he was looking for and held it over his head. "Well these guys had another earth scroll."

Naruto stood and reached back into the pouch on his back and, leaving the cloud ninja to sink back into the mud, began walking back toward his teammates. "Here, you guys take our Heaven scroll and we'll keep their earth." Naruto threw his team's Heaven scroll to the mud user, because his teammate had her hands full dragging the cloud ninja they'd beaten.

"What?" Sakura yelled. Hanabi's two teammates were in shocked silence.

"I already said that nothing will get better if Hinata doesn't defeat her sister in the final round, so they," Naruto pointed his thumb at the still stunned leaf shinobi, "have to make it to the tower with both scrolls. Besides, we won't have any trouble getting a scroll from any of the other teams."

"So you," Naruto turned to face the now fuming mud using ninja. "Take those scrolls and your teammate and get going already."

"I'm not giving back your scroll one way or the other," Suraido growled. "But I'm not doing it for you." And with that he stalked past the ninja that dared to underestimate him, threw his unconscious teammate over his shoulder and leapt away into the trees.

With practiced ease Rensa Kei jerked her whip free of the still mud bound and unconscious cloud ninja and twirled it so that with a deft movement of her hand she had it coiled and resting on her hip. She placed her hands behind her back and coyly walked over the mud to stand in front of Naruto. Then looking up demurely she spoke. "Thank you for helping us Naruto-sama."

Smiling shyly she turned toward Naruto's female teammates, and in her mind rivals for his affection. She made sure to sway her hips as she sauntered toward them. Kei had thought that the pink haired one was the one to be worried about the way she had dragged Naruto-sama away from her and Yumi, but the way that Hanabi's sister had been talking to Naruto had made Kei nervous. And the loud girl hadn't been upset until Suraido-san had interrupted. Did the pink haired girl want Naruto to run off with Hanabi's sister? But who would be willing to let an incredible ninja like Naruto-sama go? Could they have decided to share? No, the pink haired one must not like boys or something.

Leaning down, while making sure that Naruto-sama had a good view of her butt, Kei whispered in Hinata's ear. "I'm going to make him mine." And while Hinata was stricken speechless she sauntered off a few more steps before jumping into the trees to join up with her teammates.

* * *

Team Alpha spent the rest of the day and the first night resting. Hinata's muscles had been badly damaged by the cloud ninja's electrical attacks. She'd needed constant attention and a lot of protein to get her back into top fighting form. Hinata had been very apologetic about it even after Sakura had explained that in a normal situation she wouldn't have had to do much, but it would have taken a week for her to heal completely and she didn't want to wait that long while they were in the Forest of Death. So she was just doing a lot of extra work to speed it along. 

The repeated procedures had left Sakura very tired so only Naruto was left to guard them if someone found them. He'd also provided the large amount of protein he and Hinata had needed for their muscles to rebuild when he killed a couple of bear size tigers on their way to their current hiding spot. They'd picked a concealed grove near the river and the fence at the edge of the training area where it was unlikely someone would be passing through and it would be impossible to be attacked from behind.

Sakura had tried to get Naruto and Hinata to give each other a massage with some of Hinata's healing ointment. After all it's important to make sure the muscles are relaxed when they've been strained so they can heal. But in the end she had to do it for both of them. Hinata was too beaten up even after her first healing session and Naruto wasn't willing to invade Hinata's privacy to give her the kind of massage she needed unless he absolutely had to. And Sakura didn't have a good enough an excuse so she got the job. At least Naruto recognized Hinata was a girl enough to be shy about seeing her body, but it was annoying to Sakura that he kept resisting all of her attempts to get him to notice Hinata as even more.

Naruto had risen with the sun the next day, feeling completely healed as usual after a good nights sleep. Then after checking over his sleeping teammates and thanking the frogs he'd summoned to watch over all of them as they slept he headed to the river to catch their breakfast.

Sakura woke up shortly there after finding herself and Hinata alone. The gentle splashing sounds coming from the river told her where Naruto was. Looking down at her shy teammate, Sakura noticed that the girl even blushed in her sleep.

For a moment Sakura wondered what she was dreaming about. Then she decided she didn't really want to know the details. Naruto was an ok enough guy, and she was doing her best to see that he found love in his life, _or else_, but she didn't want to scar her mind with the sordid details. Though she might like to see Naruto's face if he could tell what she was dreaming, especially if it was particularly kinky, it's always the quiet ones after all. But what was she thinking? This is Hinata! The poor girl can't even talk about Naruto kissing her without becoming incognizant. What would a dream like that do to the girl? Probably put her into a coma.

Smirking to herself Sakura decided to let the girl sleep in. Who was she to interrupt the girl if she was having a pleasant dream? Besides Hinata needed as much rest as she could get to help her heal up from her injuries the day before.

Hinata was having a _very_ _pleasant_ dream, one that she didn't want to wake up from. So she did her best to stay asleep, but just like every other time eventually her dream faded and she woke back to reality. The harsh reality where Naruto was just her teammate and didn't return her passionate desires unlike his dream counterpart. But Hinata didn't want to just have Naruto-kun in her dreams. She wanted the real thing. Though there was something to be said about having Naruto-kun in her dreams. The real Naruto-kun couldn't possibly have stomach muscles like that could he?

Just moments later Naruto returned to the clearing that team Alpha had made their camp carrying a dozen fish in a loop of ninja wire wearing only his boxers. "Isn't Hinata up yet?" he asked Sakura-chan.

"I thought I heard her get up," Sakura replied as she and Naruto both looked at their unconscious teammate unaware that the Naruto-kun in Hinata's dreams had just proven to fall short of the real thing. And who knows? If she'd have woken Hinata up right then, Sakura might have been able to convince Hinata to give Naruto that massage.

* * *

Hinata woke up later to the smell of cooking fish and once team Alpha had filled their bellies they took off toward the tower. Determined to prove that she wasn't a burden on her teammates Hinata used her byakugan to not only find a nearby team, but to confirm that they had the correct scroll as well. 

It was around midday when they caught up to a team of grass-nin that had the correct scroll. In fact they had both scrolls. They were each shrouded in brown cloaks and were making good speed along the ground toward the tower. Hinata wondered why they weren't moving through the trees as most Konoha shinobi would, but she noticed that they were making better progress on the ground than anyone she had ever seen. They seemed to move effortlessly around the trees, bushes and other obstacles. Was it the result of some sort of special training developed in grass country because it was mostly open fields?

Hinata was a little nervous about their plan, or lack there of. When she'd been on Kurenai-sensei's team her sensei had made them plan things in detail. Their current plan was to attack them from above.

They jumped at the same time. But instead of jumping toward their enemies Sakura jumped straight down and punched the ground causing tremors in the ground that tripped up the Grass ninja. Hinata landed next, having jumped mostly forward. She landed in between the two male ninja and began to spin the moment her foot touched the ground. The blast from her chakra knocked both the boys away.

Naruto had jumped as high into the air as he could, so he and his clones landed on the enemy grass ninja just after Hinata was finishing her whirl. Just in time to land on the blond haired kunoichi that had been about to throw senbon needles at Hinata.

Someone that didn't know better might have thought that Naruto had something personal against people that used senbon. Every time Naruto saw someone fight with the needles, he thought of the first person he'd ever fought that used them. And for a moment he relived the pain of the loss he'd faced when he'd thought that Haku had killed Sasuke. Well suffice it to say that this grass kunoichi had a beating coming if she thought Uzumaki Naruto was going to let her throw those at Hinata. At least he assumed the ninja was a she. At least if this ninja was a boy, he wasn't as pretty as Hinata, Naruto thought before the senbon needles the ninja threw hit him in the chest causing him to explode in a puff of smoke.

Hinata stood serenely in the middle of the small battle. Light on her feet, with her hands held at ready in front of her Hinata could see the entire battle around her through her byakugan.

Naruto-kun had made too many clones. She knew he normally fought better than the clones were doing right now. They were getting in each other's way. This worked well against the golden haired kunoichi when a pair of clones exploded; blocking the needles she had thrown and the remaining clones piled on top of her and started pummeling her while the other Naruto's did the same to her teammates.

Hinata stood as still as a statue ready to move as soon as she had an opening. Behind her the largest of the Grass ninja managed to stand up, still covered in Naruto-kuns. Grabbing them by whatever part he could get a hold of the mountain of a man started throwing Naruto-kuns at the ground or at the oncoming press of clones.

To her left the last ninja managed to some how cause a small explosion blasting away the clones that were on top of him. Distracted, Hinata didn't see the Naruto-kun that the large ninja threw at her until it was too late to dodge.

The blow bowled Hinata over and made her lose her concentration for a moment. She heard another explosion as she got back up and reactivated her doujutsu so she could see the fight. The girl was still struggling under the Naruto-kuns. The smaller ninja had round, lit paper bombs in each of his hands and was throwing them at several Naruto-kuns. And the large one had finally knocked all of the Naruto-kuns off of him. The ninja somehow lost his cloak in the struggle revealing a gruesomely terrifying sight. The ninja's muscles were massive and covered in jagged scars crisscrossing over his arms, face and bare chest. Now that one of them was open Hinata didn't hesitate a second; she ran straight at the behemoth.

Naruto bounced on the ground where the big, scarred guy had thrown him. The rest of his clones were dispelling all around him as they were thrown off the tough guy. He was about to get up and charge the guy again when Hinata ran past him. Deciding to let Hinata take the ugly one Naruto immediately sprinted at the bomb-throwing boy to cover her back.

Crossing his fingers Naruto prepared his jutsu as he ran through the dust of the explosion that had destroyed the last of his clones. He braced himself for the inevitable explosion if his clone had failed to stop the grass-nin's next bomb. Then he grinned when along with the sound of an explosion, the clone's memories of the look on the bomb boy's face when the clone grabbed his arm mid throw reached him. Naruto couldn't wipe the smile off his face as he rushed through the air to punch out the boy who was still recovering from his own bomb exploding in his face.

The mountainous grass ninja threw an ungraceful punch straight at Hinata's face. Without breaking her charge she twisted herself under it and struck his unguarded chest with her fingers trying to only channel enough chakra into the brute's lungs to weaken him without doing any permanent harm. Then before he could counter she twisted and twirled under his arm until she was behind him and slapped his back over the same lung before twisting away to avoid his sluggish counter attack.

Hinata's movements almost looked like ballet to Sakura if it weren't for the dirt and grass she was kicking up as her feet slid powerfully over the ground. The golden haired grass kunoichi Sakura was sneaking up behind, however didn't seem to share Sakura's appreciation for Hinata's grace. The now battered and bruised girl was preparing to throw senbon needles at the Hyuuga girl. A swift blow to the back of her head and her attack was prevented.

Sakura noticed the kunoichi's throwing needles as she gently laid her unconscious opponent on the ground. The needles were wet. Apparently this grass-nin didn't have the pinpoint accuracy needed to kill or disable with senbon like Haku did. She used it as a delivery system for whatever drugs or toxins she coated the needles with. This made the kunoichi dangerous despite her lack of accuracy, Sakura thought as she carefully picked her way out of the strange thorny vines that surrounded the golden haired girl. It was bad luck to have been knocked into them.

Hinata stood two steps out of the scarred man's reach, staring emotionlessly as he struggled to breathe. He was now the only grass ninja still conscious. She knew it had to hurt just to draw breath. He was tough. Many wouldn't be able to make themselves stand in his condition.

"Your teammates are unconscious and it's three on one," Sakura yelled. "You can't win, give us your scrolls and we'll leave."

Hinata glared at the giant of a man as he turned his head away from her as if she didn't matter to look at Sakura.

"I don't need their help," He said as firmly as he could manage with the pain in his lungs. "It doesn't matter how many of you there are. No one can defeat me until they've suffered more than I have. I won't stop fighting until I've beaten you all." And with that he turned back to face Hinata, who was by far the closest to him.

The grass ninja hadn't noticed Naruto moving closer to him while his attention was focused on Sakura. Nor did he see Naruto pull out a knife and start to silently run toward him now that he was staring at Hinata. But Hinata saw it and to make sure the grass ninja didn't notice she screamed and ran toward him.

Distracted the scarred man didn't see Naruto move up behind him and cut his supply pouch off his belt until it was too late to stop him. But when he did the distraction gave Hinata the opening she needed to attack him any way she wanted. The giant of a man braced himself for the pain of her blow, but it never came. When he turned around both Hinata and Naruto were jumping onto the branch of a tree above their last teammate.

Naruto rummaged through the pouch for a moment before he pulled out the white heaven scroll and leaving the green earth scroll inside threw the pouch back at its owner. "Sorry about all that," Naruto yelled at the stunned ninja. "But you shouldn't have much trouble getting the next scroll. Good luck!"

The grass ninja was shocked Apparently not believing what he'd seen rummaged quickly through his pouch to confirm that the leaf ninja had actually left the earth scroll. "We don't need your pity or your help!" he snarled.

"Maybe not, but we don't need your earth scroll either," Naruto yelled before waving his teammates on. And without another word the three left the glowering ninja with his teammates and left for the tower.

* * *

End Chapter: 9 

I apologize for those of you that checked my profile and have had to wait a couple more weeks than I promised. I've meant to get this chapter up sooner but I'd gotten busy and didn't get to it.

I had intended to put a preliminary round in, but due to length I decided to stop here. I can't say yet whether the preliminary round will be short or long or whether or not it will get its own chapter. There are a few important things I'm going to reveal there and I'm looking forward to it.

So stay tuned for next time when rivals will clash and some inner demons will come out.


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